Not her first Auction
by lunetheart
Summary: What if Chise had been sold at an auction not long after her mother died? What if Elias wasn't the first one to buy her? How would things be different? PLEASE READ! Rated T because I'm paranoid, and later chapters might have mentions of dark moments.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! My name is Lunetheart, and welcome to my fanfiction, Not her first Auction.**

 **This is an AU where Chise was picked up by the people that talked to her and brought her for the auction a few days after her mother...died. However, Elias wasn't the first person to purchase her this time. She was bought by a few people, and sold back to the auction people some time later due to certain reasons.**

 **In all honesty, I think that not much would change, but I just think that it would be a fun idea, and maybe I'll do some about what other kind of people would have potentially bought her before Elias.**

 **I usually plan on updating often. However, if you've read any of my other fanfictions recently, then you'll probably notice that I've been kinda bad about keeping that promise-but I'm working on it, I promise! Writer's block sucks, so I'm hoping that this'll help push away the writer's block and give me more ideas for my other stuff.**

 **Anyway, enough of me blabbering on. Enjoy!**

"Are you sure?" young Chise asked, looking up with wide eyes, which were still full of tears.

Seth, the man sitting in front of her, nodded. "It'll help you forget all the pain that recently happened."

Chise looked down at the paper in front of her. "I'm not so sure."

"Would you rather be passed from relative to relative?" Seth asked sharply. "Because _I_ believe that it would best for you to take this offer. You can potentially get a new family-a new life, even. And all you have to do is sign this contract, and behave like a good girl."

Chise hesitated, then picked up the pen and sloppily signed her name on the sheet of paper, then she pushed it to Seth, who inspected it, then nodded, as if satisfied.

"Then it's settled," Seth said, looking up at Chise. "I sincerely hope that you have a good time and find someone that genuinely cares about you."

"I hope so, too," Chise said softly.

 **At the auction…**

"We have a rarity, even among all of our other items being sold," Seth said into the microphone in front of the audience, who all gasped, whispering to the people next to them. Chise watched all of this with a white cloth over her head, doing her best to keep her face emotionless when, in reality, she was kinda scared. Was it really the best idea? What if someone that was mean to her bought her? What if she died? She still wanted to live. She still wanted to find her dad and brother. But what if she never got the chance to do that?

 _I have to try my best,_ Chise told herself. _I'm gonna_ prove _that mama should be proud to have had me._ Despite these thoughts, she refused to raise her head, but she didn't lower it, either.

"The girl you see before you is a Sleigh Beggy, and what's more, she is able to see Fae!" Seth said. "Bidding starts at 500,000."

"Five ten!" someone shouted.

"Five thirty!" someone else shouted.

The shouting continued until a final person shouted. "One million five thousand!" Then everything went silent.

"One million five thousand!" Seth said. "Do we have one million five ten? Anybody? Going once, going twice...sold!"

An old-ish man stood up, chuckling. "Lucky me!" He walked up to the stage, grabbed Chise's chain-the one on her arms, not her neck, she noticed-then walked to the back-Chise had noticed people doing this with the others being sold, so they must've paid at the back then took the others away.

As soon as Chise and the man walked off the stage, the man turned to someone that was standing there. He took out a _very_ thick envelope and handed it to the person. "I believe this is the amount I owe for this girl?"

The person nodded, then handed a key to the man. "Will you be needing this?"

"Yes," the man said, taking the key, then, to Chise's surprise, he unlocked the chains, letting them fall, then he handed them to the person, who nodded.

The man grabbed Chise's hand, who looked at him with wide eyes as the man smiled.

"Let's get going," the man said. "What's your name?"

"C-Chise," Chise said quietly. "Chise Hatori."

"Nice to meet you, Chise," the man said. "My name is Eden Dumont-but you can just call me Eden."

Chise smiled at the man. "Eden!"

"Yeah!" Eden said, then the two of them continued to walk away.

 **A few hours later…**

"This is your new home," Eden said, ushering Chise into a large room of a large house.

"Woah!" Chise exclaimed, looking around. In general, the house seemed like a castle out of a fairy tale. The outside actually _looked_ like a castle, but just a little smaller. There was a grand staircase in front of them, and the rest of the space seemed to be kinda empty, although there were plenty of doors.

Eden smiled at her. "Woah indeed. I live here with a small staff, but it's still rather lonely." His expression turned sad. "There used to be laughter running through the halls, but sadly my daughter grew up and moved away-she doesn't speak to me anymore." A few tears came to his eyes-tears that Chise knew that wouldn't've come to her mother's eyes if Chise had run away and never came back.

"I don't see why," Chise said, hoping to cheer him up. "You're a really nice person!"

Eden gave her a sad smile, then ruffled her hair, causing Chise to giggle. "Thank you, Chise. Same goes to you."

Chise's expression fell, and she looked at the ground, shifting on her feet. "My mama told me that she wished that I was never alive. I-I don't know _what_ I did to her, but I think that she hated me."

"Oh," Eden said sadly. "So _that's_ what's with the look in your eyes."

"Look?" Chise asked, confused.

"You look sad, really," Eden said. "But I'm sure that it's all going to change. You're going to be happy, I promise. Life's worth living. I'm sure that your mother just was so stressed that she said something she regretted."

"You think so?" Chise asked, her eyes wide.

"I know so," Eden said. "Now, let's get you settled in. There's a room prepared for you and everything-however, there _are_ a few conditions to living here."

"Like?" Chise asked.

"While there are people who are here solely to keep the house tidy, there are still chores I want you to do," Eden said. "It's never a good thing to take one's help for granted. I also want you, once you're settled in, to start going to the nearby school."

"Alright!" Chise said happily. "That sounds like fun!"

Eden smiled at her. "Then let's get you settled in."

 **And that's it for this chapter! What did you think?**

 **I hope that I'll be updating before too long, but knowing me, I probably won't-here's to hoping!**

 **Lunetheart out.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello, and I'm back with another chapter of Not her first Auction.**

 **I don't own Ancient Magus Bride.**

 **Enjoy!**

The next year was pretty awesome, in Chise's opinion. Eden was really nice to her, and he made sure that, if anything was bothering her, he knew about it-although he seemed to know exactly what was going on, no matter what. That was probably done with a little help from his familiar-her name was Promise, although she insisted everyone called her Lilac. Lilac made plenty of deals with people in exchange for something else-she never really did a favor for anyone, but instead what she did always had something done for her in return, and vice versa.

Eden had told Chise that he was a mage, but apparently she was too young to be his apprentice, so instead, he treated her like she was his daughter-he even adopted her, so now her name was legally Chise Dumont.

Lilac had made a deal with Chise, which was how she always knew just what was on Chise's mind. In exchange for allowing Lilac to read her mind, Lilac helped Chise with her schoolwork, and was sometimes like Chise's older sister-which made the deal pretty fair, in Chise's opinion.

Anyway, it was a year since Eden had brought Chise back to his home, and tonight, he was heading to town...for some reason. And Lilac wasn't coming with him, either.

"Why are you heading out so late?" Chise asked, fighting back a yawn.

"I'll be back soon-I promise," Eden said.

"But I wanna come with you," Chise said, then yawned.

Eden smiled, a strangely sad look in his eye. "You're too tired, Chise. I promise, you'll be alright. I'll even be back by morning, you'll see."

"I wanna come with you," Chise said softly, her eyes closing slightly as she fell forward a little bit. Eden stepped forward and caught her as she slumped forward.

"You need to sleep," Eden said. "I promise, I'll tell you about it tomorrow."

"You promise?" Chise demanded sleepily.

Eden hesitated, then looked away. "I-I promise."

Before Chise could question him anymore, Lilac picked her up. "It's time for bed, Chise."

"B-But-" Chise started, but Lilac nodded her head at Chise, and she fell asleep instantly.

Eden smiled sadly, then looked Lilac in the eye. "You know what tonight is, correct?"

Lilac gave him a sad look. "I don't want to see you go, Eden. I doubt that Chise wants to see you go, either."

"You know as well as anybody that a promise is a promise," Eden said. "After all, it _is_ your real name."

Lilac sighed. "I know. But I don't like this promise."

"I'm well aware," Eden said. "Now, you know what I'm about to say."

"Please, don't," Lilac said, but Eden grabbed her hand and drew a symbol on it.

"With this, you are no longer my familiar," Eden said. "However, due to the deal we made, you are not allowed to leave Chise's side until after she already knows of what's going to happen to me, and she's being picked up to leave for the auction house again. Understand?"

"I don't want this," Lilac said.

"However, that's our deal," Eden said. "Do you understand?"

"But-" Lilac started.

"Do. You. Understand?" Eden said sharply-sharper than he had ever spoken to anyone before.

Lilac took a step back, then nodded. "Fine. I understand."

"Good," Eden said. "Now, tuck Chise into bed, then wait until news about what's going on reaches the ears of everyone here, then follow my instructions without hesitation."

"Yes, Eden," Lilac said sadly. "I guess."

"Good," Eden said, then left.

Lilac stood there, still holding Chise, for a few minutes, then brought Chise to her room. She tucked Chise in, then left to a large room with a fireplace...then she began to cry.

 **Two days later…**

"Please, Lilac, he's never been gone this long!" Chise said desperately, clinging onto Eden's former familiar. "Where's Eden?"

Lilac looked at her sadly. "I-I'm sure that he'll be back soon."

"He promised that he'd be back yesterday!" Chise said. "Why isn't he back yet?!"

"I-I don't know," Lilac said.

"You _always_ know!" Chise said, near tears, not noticing that Lilac was stopping herself from crying. "You're his familiar, right?! He promised that he'd be back-why isn't he back!? Why don't you know?!"

Lilac sighed, then leaned down so she was eye-to-eye with Chise. "Chise...sometimes, there are truths that we don't know. Stuff happens, and we have no control on what's going on around us."

"What are you saying?" Chise asked, her eyes wide as tears started to pour out of her eyes.

"I'm saying that...well...life's not fair-you know that, right?" Lilac asked.

"What does that have to do with any of this?" Chise demanded.

A small, sad smile came to Lilac's lips just as someone burst into the room.

"Promise!" the person-a man wearing a formal-looking suit-exclaimed. "I have horrible news!"

Lilac stood and looked at the person, her expression growing dull. "Yes?"

"I-It's Eden!" the person exclaimed, then his eyes grew wide as he noticed Chise, who was clinging to Lilac's dress. "W-What's that little girl doing here?"

"She has every right to be here-she lives here," Lilac said, holding one hand out protectively. "Now, what about Eden?"

"T-The girl shouldn't-" the person started.

"She has every single right to hear what you have to say," Lilac said sharply, still holding back tears. "Now, what about Eden?"

"H-He was found...oh, Promise, I'm so sorry," the person said. "H-He's...gone."

"When will he be coming back?" Chise asked, but from the edge in her voice, everyone could understand that she knew what was really going on.

"He won't be," the person said.

"B-But he promised!" Chise blurted. "He promised that he'd be back and he'd tell me all about why he wasn't here! He _promised_!"

"Promises are meant to be broken," Lilac whispered.

Chise looked at her, her eyes wide in fear. "You knew."

Lilac looked at her. "Chise...listen. I was his familiar."

"Was?" Chise asked, shaking her head. "You _are_ his familiar."

"No," Lilac said. "I used to be...but when he left, he broke our contract."

"I didn't know that could be done," the person said.

"That's a...separate story," Lilac said. "But that doesn't matter. Since he's...gone, I guess that it means you'll have to go back to the auction house, Chise."

"I don't want to," Chise said stubbornly.

"Chise, Eden's...gone, which means that the rest of us need to go our separate ways," Lilac said. "However...I'm prepared to make a deal with you."

"I don't know if that's a good idea," the person said warningly.

"Oh, hush," Lilac said, waving a hand at him. "So, Chise, are you willing to make this deal?"

"What's the deal?" Chise asked.

"You know that Eden has plenty of friends," Lilac said. "And I'm able to contact a few of them. I'm sure that one of them will be able to go to the auction house and purchase you. In fact, I'm willing to make sure for certain that one of them does...but I don't do favors, you know."

"What do you want me to do?" Chise asked boldly.

"Now, you and I can discuss that in a little while-when there's nobody else around," Lilac said. "For now…" She turned to the person. "I would like for you to tell me more about what's going on, including what's going to happen to the house, as well as everything else-including when the funeral is going to be."

 _Funeral._ It was the _last_ word that Chise wanted to hear, but she stayed silent, as much as she wanted to scream and cry instead.

 **Later that night…**

"So, what do you want me to do?" Chise asked, looking at Lilac. The two of them were sitting at a small table, drinking tea and eating sweets-Eden would surely have insisted that it wasn't alright to be eating sweets this late at night, but neither of them seemed bothered.

"Well, that depends," Lilac said. "There's a whole list of things that I traditionally do. I've taken someone's first born before in exchange for spinning a large pile of straw into gold-they got out of it by guessing my friend's name-in their defense, I had been pretending to be him at the time, so I let it slide that time-they didn't know the other price I had taken, a few stands of their hair. Let's see...I once took a small ring in exchange for a wish to see a ball-old time, of course. Granted someone sleep for one hundred years instead of death because I couldn't think of a better gift, and her parents _had_ invited me to her party-I love parties! What else have I done?"

"Those sound like Rumpelstiltskin, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty," Chise said.

"Did you really think that they weren't based on real events?" Lilac asked. "But that's not the point. What do you offer to me in exchange for the deal?"

Chise thought for a few seconds. "I, um...what do you think I _can_ offer?"

"Do you need more modern ideas?" Lilac asked. "Ooh! How about this?" She reached across the table, grabbing a small section of Chise's hair. "Your hair is the shade of sunset-a beautiful shade, too. I want a small section of your hair...and for you to sing for the fae once every month."

"Sing for the fae?" Chise asked, confused.

Lilac nodded. "One night every month for as long as you are able to, I want you to take a night to sing three songs for the fae-dance, too, although the singing part is more important-but only if you're able. If, for some reason, you can't sing one night, sing three more songs the next month."

"Sounds like a reasonable request," Chise said. "And you'll make sure I have someone nice buy me at the auction house?"

"And, should you ever find me again while you're in need to get away from whatever, I'll be able to take care of you and help you out," Lilac said. "For three songs a month, and a small bit of your hair. Sounds reasonable, right?"

"Yeah," Chise said. "I'll do it."

With a smile, Lilac grabbed out a pair of scissors and cut the small section of Chise's hair, then pat Chise on the head. "And so the deal is settled. Seth has already been contacted about what happened-he'll be here in three days to pick you up. In that time, I'll make arrangements. The singing and dancing part of the deal begins as soon as I've upheld my part of the deal. Plan?"

"Plan," Chise said, and the two shook hands.

 **And that's it for this chapter! What did you think?**

 **I should be updating before too long-although no "Promise"s if I get writer's block, or need to update a few of my other stories first.**

 **Until next time!**

 **Lunetheart out.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello, and I'm back with another chapter of Not her fist Auction.**

 **I don't own Ancient Magus Bride.**

 **Enjoy!**

Chise stood before the auction house, listening to Seth as he started.

"We have a rare item tonight-for the second time, as she was sold last year, too," Seth said. "Bidding starts at 500,000."

Of course, people started to shout again, saying their bids. Chise listened intently, waiting for the final bid-and to see if Lilac was going to keep her promise.

At last, someone shouted, "Two million!" and everyone else went silent.

Chise looked up to see a kind woman-she looked like she could be Chise's mother-based on age alone, that is.

The woman gently grabbed Chise's arm and led her off stage and through the back door. When she was to the person at the back-exactly like the person that Eden had pain-the woman gave the money to the person, then took the key and unlocked Chise's chains.

"Lilac contacted me and told me about you," the woman said, grabbing Chise's chains and handing them to the person, who took them with a nod. "I can't have any children of my own, so when Lilac gave me the information about you, of course I had to come and purchase you. Goodness, where are my manners?" She held out her hand to Chise. "My name is Opal Libel-I used to be one of Eden's servants, actually, but when his daughter left, I left, too, to pursue my dream."

"I-I'm Chise," Chise said. "Chise Hatori."

"I thought that it was Chise Dumont," Opal said. "At least, that's what Lilac told me. A little girl with hair as red as the sunset and eyes as green as grass, named Chise Hatori, but had been adopted by Eden, so your name is now Chise Dumont, right?"

"Well...since Eden's...gone, my last name got changed back to Hatori," Chise explained.

"Oh," Opal said slowly. "Well, it's time to get heading home-I do apologize, but my house isn't nearly as grand as Eden's. The money I used to buy you was actually left to me from Eden." She chuckled. "Well, he gave it to me when I left, and I kept it in savings all this time. I'm glad that I did, because now I get to know you!"

Chise smiled. "I'm sure that we'll get along, too!"

 **A month later...**

Chise laughed as she ran down the side of the hill, many of the neighbors flying alongside her. It was a few hours past sundown, and Chise was carrying a lantern.

"Chise, please, slow down!" Opal yelled, running to keep up with the young girl.

'It's the first night!" Chise yelled excitedly as she got to the bottom of the hill, then she turned and watched as Opal walked down the hill carefully. "I'm singing tonight!"

"I'm well aware, Chise, but calm down!" Opal said. "I want to watch as well-it's hard to keep up with you, though!"

"Sorry," Chise said as Opal sat down.

"I'm guessing that we're here?" Opal asked.

Chise looked up at the sky-she could see trillions of stars, and the moon was a little more than half full. She smiled. "This spot is perfect!"

"Then I'll just watch from right here," Opal said.

Chise set her lantern down, then looked at the neighbors swarming around her. "Alright! What should I sing first?"

"Ooh, ooh, sing Hynica!" one of the fire ones shouted.

"Lillican!" a water one shouted.

The neighbors started to shout out random songs, but Chise looked confused.

"I don't know any of those songs," Chise said, which caused the neighbors to stop and stare at her.

'You don't?" an Ariel asked.

Chise shook her head, a little disappointed.

"Then sing a song you know well," Opal said. Chise looked at her, then nodded.

"Right," Chise said, then thought for a few seconds, then she clasped her hands together. "Ooh, here's one!" She held up her hands, clearly ready to dance along, too. "Here goes!"

 **(A** /N: I don't feel like typing up the three songs. Just look up Any Other Way by We the Kings, League of Legends Worlds Collide, and Song of the Sea Lullaby-those are the songs Chise's singing. **)**

As soon as Chise sang the last note, she fell to the ground, asleep.

Chuckling, Opal walked over and gently picked Chise up. Then, she nodded at the neighbors, then walked away to get Chise back home.

 **And** that's it for this chapter! What did you think?

Sorry if this chapter seems shorter-and the next one is probably going to be background information, so yeah. But I promise that the chapters are going to get longer! Eventually…

Anyway, until next time!

Lunetheart out.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello, and I'm back with another chapter of Not her first Auction.**

 **I don't own Ancient Magus Bride.**

 **By the way, if you've seen Snow White with the Red Hair-which, by the way, I recommend if you love Ancient Magus Bride, it's super amazing-I started a crossover between Ancient Magus Bride and Snow White with the Red Hair-it's not linked to this fanfiction, though.**

 **WARNING! This chapter contains mentions of abuse, near-death, and rape-I'll put up a big warning about that last one there, but you've been warned! If that bothers you, don't read, and you might be able to skip this chapter, although it'll be harder to understand later.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

And so, the years went on.

One year after Opal purchased Chise, she became bankrupt, and she had no choice but to sell Chise back to the auction house. The people there would've just stopped putting Chise up for auction, but word got out quickly that Chise was at the auction house again, so people were demanding that she be sold-since sleigh beggies are rare, and she was one of a kind, since she could see the fae. So, reluctantly, they put her up for auction again.

The third time she was sold at the auction house, she was bought by a younger man who wanted to use the energy she generated-so he took plenty of that energy to create magic tools-and it really _hurt_. After a year with that, Chise managed to call the auction house, and they took her back. Once again, information about her was spread, and they had no choice but to sell her-this time to an older lady, who decided on the same purpose-to take her energy. And so the pattern continued. One year later, Chise managed to get back to the auction house, people heard about her, and then she'd be sold, and the next person took her energy. This continued up until the eighth person, who believed that her energy was in her _blood_ , so started to take her blood, and even tried to fuse her blood with his-that didn't end well, and the massive amount of energy caused him to explode.

However, number nine had a story behind him…

 **Seven years after Opal had to sell her back to the auction house…**

Chise, now fourteen years old-stared at the man that had just bought her. He was a taller man in his late thirties, and he looked kinda scary.

"Alright, from now on, your name isn't Chise Hatori-it's Teegan Junica," the man-his name was Liam Junica-snapped. "Got that?"

"Ok," Chise said softly.

"Speak up," the man snapped.

"Ok," Chise said a little louder.

"Good," Liam snapped, then grabbed her arm and dragged her away, not doing anything to unlock her chains-of course, the others didn't really do anything about the chains, either, but still.

 **Nearly a year later…**

Chise looked a little sheepish. "I'm not so sure about this."

"Come on, sweet little Robin," one of the Ariels said, flying by her ear. "You promised that you'd do this each month."

Chise sighed. "I know...but I have a feeling that Liam won't like this," Chise said quietly, wincing-her side really hurt because Liam had hit her side so hard that he had bruised a rib, although she hadn't been able to get to a doctor since they were too far from any city, so it wasn't like Chise could run off to get medical attention-in fact, she was lucky when she could sneak away to sing and dance once a month, and even then, she wasn't completely sure that it was a good idea.

"Liam is an abusive jerk who's probably killed someone before," one of the fire sprites said.

Chise bit her lip-if only that little fire sprite knew the truth. "Yeah, but he'll hurt me more if he discovers that I left the house."

"Then why don't you just leave the house and find Lilac?" one of the other fire sprites suggested.

"I have no idea where to start," Chise said.

In reality, none of the fae had a single clue about where Lilac was. She was hiding somewhere-and apparently even the King and Queen of the Fae had no idea where she was. Overall, she was a mystery.

"Oh," the second fire sprite said.

"I'm going to find her someday, though," Chise said with determination. "And when that happens, I won't have to go through anymore of this. Now, time for singing and dancing?"

"Yeah!" all the nearby fae exclaimed.

Chise smiled, then thought for a few seconds. "Hmm...what songs should I sing...ooh, I know!" She smiled. "Just give me a-"

"And just _what_ the _hell_ are you doing?!"

Chise jumped, then spun around-along with the rest of the fae-to see Liam stomping over, looking _way_ past angry.

"L-Liam!" Chise said. "I was just-"

Liam reached her and angrily pulled her hair, causing Chise to yelp out in pain. The fae started to try to help Chise, but Liam swatted at them with his gloves, which had iron infused in them. The fae quickly scattered.

"I don't give a _damn_ what you were doing!" Liam yelled. "I told you not to leave the house!" He threw her to the ground, causing Chise to yelp out as her bruised side hit the ground.

"Oh, look what you did," Liam hissed. "You really shouldn't make me hit you so much, Teegan."

By now, Chise knew better than to say anything, so instead, she stood up, shaking-her side hurt so bad, it was hard to stand!

Liam grabbed her arm and dragged her away. Reluctantly, Chise followed.

 **At the house…**

 **WARNING: This part is going to contain implied rape and drunken violence-don't like, don't read this part! This part is short-the next bold words are the end of it.**

Liam threw Chise into the wall. Chise yelled out in pain as she fell to the ground.

"What do you have to say for yourself, you little-?!" Liam asked, sounding really drunk-he had downed a few beers when they had gotten home, and Chise was really scared that he might kill her.

See, in reality, Liam's daughter was Teegan Junica-and Liam had hit her on the head so hard one day…

...that he had killed her.

In a panic, he had purchased Chise to pretend to be his daughter-for two and a half million, too, which made no sense to Chise, but oh well. Because she didn't need to understand what was going through his mind back then to know that he could be about to kill her _now_.

"Speak up!" Liam yelled, kicking her. Chise yelled out wordlessly in pain, then Liam took a step back, taking a deep breath.

"You're more useless than my _real_ daughter!" Liam yelled, then downed another can of beer. Once that was done, he looked at Chise, who was holding back tears of pain. "That's right. You ain't the _real_ Teegan. Ya just ain't." He walked over, towering over Chise, who flinched, convinced that this was the end. To her surprise, instead he picked her up and took her to his room, throwing her on the bed.

"W-What-" Chise started to say, but Liam took out a piece of cloth and tied it around her mouth.

"Good girls stay silent," Liam said, then reached for her clothes.

 **A month later-end of drunken violence part…**

Seth knocked on Liam's door, the police behind him.

Even though Chise hadn't actually contacted the auction house, a few fae had talked to some alchemists, and then those alchemists had reported to the auction house. The auction house, out of worry for Chise-who had more or less become a daughter to some of them-they did some investigation on Liam to realize that he had used to have a daughter. Some more digging revealed that she had a grave, and based on what the fae had said, it didn't take much to have a report for the police, and it didn't take much convincing to get the police to come to Liam's door.

"I'm comin', I'm comin'," Liam said, opening the door, but not really paying any attention. "What the heck do ya want?"

"I would like to see Chise Hatori," Seth said.

"Huh?" Liam asked, looking at him, then he noticed the police. "Hey, what's going on?"

One of the police officers stepped up. "Liam Junica, you are under arrest for murder and the abuse of a child here."

"I dunno what you're talkin' 'bout," Liam said.

"There are eye-witnesses and everything," the officer said. "So, let us in."

"No," Liam said, then started to shut the door, but the officer shoved into the house, and the others all walked in, too.

"Get outta my house!" Liam yelled.

Seth looked around, then his eyes fell on a stain on the floor.

A large _blood_ stain.

"What's that?!" one of the officers exclaimed, clearly noticing the stain as well.

Liam looked over at the stain. "Oh, that? Some cherry soda."

"Cut the crud," the head officer said, turning to Liam, clearly angry. "You're under arrest-right now!"

Liam opened his mouth to protest, but a different officer grabbed him and put handcuffs on him.

Meanwhile, Seth took out a small compass and started to turn it around. After a few seconds, it pointed down a hallway. Seth and one other officer quickly walked down the hallway, following the compass until it pointed at a door. Seth reached for the doorknob, only to realize that it was locked. The officer kicked down the door, and Seth shined a flashlight into the dark room…

...to see Chise on the bed, covered in so much blood. She was coughing really hard.

Seth quickly rushed in, dropping the flashlight, which the officer quickly caught and continued to shine into the room as Seth carefully picked Chise up, then grabbed a blanket and wrapped her in it, then walked out of the room, carrying Chise.

 **Days later…**

With a groan, Chise opened her eyes, and she was surprised to realize that she wasn't in Liam's house, in her bed-which was where she had been last. She was in a hospital room, and her wounds didn't hurt as much as they had before.

"Chise! You're awake!"

She turned her head a little to see Seth standing up from the chair he had been sitting in. He was holding a book and looked like he hadn't slept in _days_.

"S-Seth," Chise said, then began to cough really hard, sitting up and leaning down over her lap. Worried, Seth walked over and rubbed her back as Chise kept coughing, coughing up a little bit of blood.

"Are you alright?" Seth asked.

"W-What…" Chise started.

"You're in the hospital-Mr. Junica was arrested a few days ago," Seth said. "Did he do this to you?"

Chise hesitated, then nodded, not wanting to speak about everything that had happened.

Seth clenched both his hands into fists. "That bastard."

"Now that he's behind bars...am I…" Chise started.

"We're going to try to keep quiet for a long time about all this, but you know how fast it spreads," Seth sighed. "However, even if you have to be sold again, when you turn sixteen, you'll officially be allowed to live on your own."

Chise gave him an odd look. "I thought that the age was eighteen."

"Technically, it is," Seth said. "However...that's a long story. For now, focus on recovering, alright?"

"Ok," Chise said, then laid back down. Seth tucked her back in, then walked away to tell a nurse that she was awake.

 **And that's it for this chapter! What did you think?**

 **The next chapter will be up before** _ **too**_ **long-and Chise's finally going to meet Elias...maybe. I'm still not completely sure, but we'll see.**

 **Anyway, until next time!**

 **Lunetheart out.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello, and I'm back with another chapter of Not her first Auction.**

 **I don't own Ancient Magus Bride.**

 **Enjoy!**

Chise ran, panting, but she knew that she couldn't stop.

"Chise!"

Chise ignored the voice and continued running as fast as she could for a few more minutes before she stopped, leaning against the wall and panting heavily. Quickly, Seth, as well as a bunch of others, caught up.

"Chise, please, calm down," Seth said, reaching out to her.

"No!' Chise screamed, causing Seth to reel back in shock as Chise collapsed to the ground, sobbing. "I don't wanna have to go to another place! Please, I don't want to be at the auction again!"

"We can't do anything about it until you turn sixteen," Seth said. "You still have about nine months to go."

"No!" Chise cried. "Please!"

"Chise, listen," Seth said, kneeling down next to her. "We have a plan in place. On the day you turn sixteen, we can buy you back, and then you'll be free. We'll even help find you a place to stay, and we'll check on you every so often to make sure that you're doing alright. This is the last auction that you're being sold at, I promise."

"B-But what if I'm sold back before I turn sixteen?" Chise asked, clearly scared.

"Then we'll say that you were bought by a private buyer, and we'll look after you until you turn sixteen," Seth promised. "We would do that now, but we can't since it's nine months. Ok?"

"I-I don't wanna get hurt again," Chise whispered.

Seth gently rubbed her back. "I know, Chise. I know. We don't want you to get hurt again either. We wouldn't be doing this if we didn't have to. But because you're a sleigh beggy, we have no other option. I hope you understand."

"I-I understand," Chise whispered.

Seth smiled sadly. "Then let's head back. I think that there's something you should have."

Chise gave him an odd look, then stood up. Seth did as well, and grabbed her hand, guiding her back the way they had come.

 **About thirty minutes later…**

Seth pulled a large chest out of a storage unit, then turned to Chise, who was still giving him an odd look.

"What's that?" Chise asked.

"This," Seth said, resting a hand on the chest, "is something that we were going to give you when you turned sixteen and were able to get out of the auction system, but I think you have the right to choose _one_ object from here to keep until then. So, go on. Open it."

Chise carefully opened the chest, revealing…

... _tons_ of books, scarves, jackets, stuffed animals, and coloring materials.

"What are of all these?" Chise asked, looking at Seth.

"You're telling me that you don't recognize any of it?" Seth asked. "Take a closer look."

Chise picmed up one of the books and opened it, then gasped. "Eden used to read this story to me! Where did you get a copy?!"

"That was Eden's copy," Seth said.

"W-what?!" Chise exclaimed, her eyes wide.

"Everything in that chest was taken from Eden's old home,'" Seth said. "Lilac came to us not long after Opal bought you and asked that we give this to you. She told us that Eden had gathered up chests full of his daughter's old clothes, stuffed animals, and sketchbooks, and he had been planning on giving these to you for Christmas each year. He forgot the first year, and then after that...you know what happened."

By now, tears were in Chise's eyes. "H-He did that?"

"Yes," Seth said. "Lilac could only get her hands on this chest-the one that you were supposed to get the Christmas before you turned sixteen. The stuffed animals she was able to take from the ones you had back then." He took an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to Chise. "She left this, too."

Chise took the envelope and opened it, taking out the letter inside.

 _Dear Chise,_

 _I hope that this letter finds you well at sixteen years of age. If it doesn't find you well...then you'd better summon me to help you take down that bastard down! Nobody harms my precious Robin and gets away with it! Anyway._

 _I'm betting that you weren't there at the reading of Eden's will-it hasn't been read just yet, but I was there when he wrote it, so I know for a fact what's on that will. And here's the simple truth-please sit down before you read this._

 _As you know, Eden had tons of money-he was very rich, which was why he lived in the castle and had servants. In his will, he divided 25% of the money between the servants...and 74% went to_ you _-the other 1% went to Jasmine-that's Eden's daughter. Personally, I think he should've left her nothing since she refused to talk to him, but he insisted._

 _This letter should find you with a chest full of clothes, your old stuffed animals, and drawing material. All of that-save the stuffed animals-used to belong to Jasmine-Eden thought that the clothes would look nice on you, so he gathered together chests full of clothes and her old toys. He has enough chests for up until you're twenty, although I could only save the one for when you were sixteen, and, in my opinion, that's important. Because sixteen is an important age for you._

 _Normally, you humans can inherit when you turn eighteen-at least, I believe that's the age-but Eden specifically stated in his will that you were to have your inheritance when you turn sixteen. I think that he either wanted you to get out of the system of being sold early, or he was thinking about something certain about you sleigh beggies...but if you don't already know about it, then I can't say._

 _Anyway, that's about all I have to say. If you ever find yourself in a tough situation, then please summon me!_

 _Oh, wait,_ one _more thing. About the chest. I don't do any favors, as I've told you...but for this...I think I'll make one_ sole _exception-don't go telling people, though. I have a reputation to uphold, after all!_

 _Well, best wishes!_

 _Promise (aka Lilac)_

 _P.S: Next time I see you, please bother me about what happened to Eden. I have a story to tell you about it._

A few tears escaped Chise's eyes, landing on the letter.

"Are you alright?" Seth asked.

"I-I had no idea," Chise whispered. "S-She was thinking about me-why did she do this? S-She didn't owe me anything. If anything, it's the other way around. So why... _why_? Why did she...just...why?" She hugged the letter to her and cried even harder.

Seth pat her on the back. "It's alright, Chise."

Despite these kind words, Chise continued to cry.

 **Later…**

Chise stood in front of the crowd, doing her best not to run.

"Bidding starts at 500,000," Seth said, as he always said.

Chise closed her eyes, imagining the item she had picked from the chest as she listened to the bidding go on. She had picked a scarf, since it would be easiest to have on her.

Chise barely listened to the auction as she kept the image of the scarf in her head. That is, until she realized that there was someone standing in front of her.

Chise looked up to see someone with a cloth over their face. He-at least, she was _sure_ that it was a guy-was looking at her.

"Five million," the man said, causing people to gasp. And, with that, the man brought Chise backstage. To her surprise, Seth followed them.

"Mr. Ainsworth, while it's a pleasure to have you at the auction, you need to follow the proper procedure and stay off the stage," Seth said when they were backstage. However, "Mr. Ainsworth," as the man had been dubbed, didn't seem to be listening.

 **And that's it for this chapter! What did you think?**

 **I should be updating before too long-although, knowing me, that might not happen.**

 **Here's to hoping!**

 **Lunetheart out.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello, and I'm back with another chapter of Not her first Auction.**

 **Sorry that I haven't updated in a while-Merry late Christmas! Anyway.**

 **I don't own Ancient Magus Bride.**

 **Enjoy!**

Well, that day had been...interesting. That was for sure.

Mr. Ainsworth-who had told her to call him Elias, he was a mage who wanted her to be his apprentice-had brought her to his home, forgetting about taking the key, and he had instead used magic to break the chains. Then he had made her take a bath- _that_ was an...interesting experience. After that, he had explained to her about sleigh beggies, probably assuming that she didn't know that it basically meant that the Fae loved her. After that, he had decided that she must've been tired, so he had her go to bed. As hard as it was for her to fall asleep. At least she had her scarf-even if Elias had no clue why she hung onto it with everything she had, but still.

After a few hours, Chise heard something knocking against her window. Startled, she sat up and saw…

"An Ariel," Chise muttered, opening the window.

"Sweet Robin!" the Ariel said happily. "It's dancing night, right?"

"I know," Chise whispered. "I was going to wait a little longer until I went out."

"Come on, it's not like the Thorn Mage will ever know," the Ariel said. "Besides, it's none of his business what you do."

 _But he bought me,_ Chise thought, then sighed, standing up and grabbing her scarf, plus a brown blanket, draping it over her like a cloak. "I guess that you're right."

"Then let's go!" the Ariel said happily.

Chise quietly walked out of her room, looking around just in case Elias-or Silky, the neighbor that kept the house clean-was up and would see her. When she was sure that the coast was clear, she snuck out of her room, then walked to the front door, slipping out. After a few seconds, she began to run.

 **With Elias...**

Elias watched as Chise and the Ariel hurried away from the house, and he sighed.

"Well, I guess that it makes for a good lesson," Elias said, slipping on his cloak.

 **With Chise and the Ariel…**

"Are you sure about this?" Chise asked, looking around the meadow. There were other Fae there-there always was-but Chise felt like this wasn't a good idea.

"You do this every month-but you couldn't last month," the Ariel insisted. "Which means six songs. You love this time of month, don't you?"

"O-Of course, but you know what happened last month," Chise said softly, shivering. The scars were still there, but a glamor had been cast over her-one that hid her scars so nobody would be asking about them. But that didn't mean they were completely gone.

"We won't let that happen again," the Ariel said. "Promise. Now, can you please start? The sooner you're done, the sooner you'll go back."

Chise sighed. "Fine. Just give me a moment to think of the songs." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Ok, I think that I have the songs I'm going to sing. Ready?"

"Ready!" all the nearby Fae exclaimed.

Chise took another deep breath, then began.

 **(Yet again, too lazy to type up the songs, so she sang Elastic Heart by Sia, Rise by Katy Perry, How Do You Love Someone by Ashley Tisdale, High Hopes by Panic! At the Disco, One More Light by Linkin Park, and the Song of the Sea lullaby.)**

Chise stopped dancing at the last note of the sixth song, then yawned, rubbing her eyes.

"Time to go back," Chise said.

"Aw," the Fae said.

"Sing for us more!" one of the Fae said.

"I've already sung six songs," Chise said. "You know that's all I sing."

"But that doesn't mean you have to go back," the Ariel that had brought her there said, flying up in her face.

"Um, yeah, it does," Chise said.

"No," the Ariel said. "You can come to the Fae world with us!" She gestured over to some larger Fae, who moved to reveal the gateway. "See, the gateway's even open! You'll enjoy living in our world, I promise! So let's get going!"

Chise took a step back, shaking her head. "I-I can't."

'Why not, Sweet Robin?" the Ariel asked. "It's not like there's anything left for you in this world. Don't you want to be happy?"

"W-Well...yeah," Chise said slowly.

"Then you'll come with us!" the Ariel said. "After all, you won't be happy by staying in this world-and staying with the Thorn Mage won't make you happy, either."

"Are you sure?" Chise asked, glancing back the way they had come. "I mean, he's been nice so far...and he said that I'm part of his family...nobody's done that in so long…"

"But you don't belong here," the Ariel said.

"I feel like I belong-for the first time since I was with Opal," Chise said, reaching up and touching the necklace that Elias had given her. "So...I think that I'm going to stay around here."

"Ah, I see."

Startled, Chise looked around as Elias appeared out of literally _nowhere_ and put a hand on her shoulder.

"It seems that the puppy had learned where her den is," Elias said.

 _Why did he just call me a puppy?_ Chise wondered as the Fae all backed away from Elias.

"Thorn Mage," the Ariel snarled.

"Leave," Elias said. "I'll forgive you for this once, but next time, not so much."

"You'll regret this," the Ariel said, then all the Fae retreated into the gateway.

Chise looked at Elias. "H-How did you…"

"Easy," Elias said, tapping her necklace. "This helps me track you."

 _There's a tracker on me?_ Chise thought, her eyes wide.

Elias picked her up. "Let's head home."

"I-I can walk," Chise said, struggling to get down.

"I would rather not risk my bride getting lost," Elias said.

"Wait, what?" Chise asked, her eyes wide.

"Oh, did I forget to mention?" Elias said, looking at her. "While I bought you to be my apprentice...I also hope that you'll be my bride."

 _What. The. Fudge._ was the first thought that ran through Chise's head at that comment.

 **And that's it for this chapter! What did you think? Sorry if it's a little shorter, but after this, I'm probably going to be doing a time skip-you'll see.**

 **Anyway, until next time!**

 **Lunetheart out.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello, and I'm back with another chapter of Not her first Auction.**

 **Sorry about updating late-and sorry in advance that this chapter is probably going to be a little on the short side. This chapter is going to be Ruth's reaction to Chise going out and dancing once a month. At least, that's what I'm meaning for it to be. Anyway.**

 **Enjoy!**

Ruth, in his dog form, of course, yawned as he sat up, for some reason having a strange feeling. He looked around…

...to realize that Chise wasn't there.

"Huh?!" Ruth said, standing up on the bed, looking around. "Where's-"

"I guess she must've snuck out again."

Ruth jumped, turning and looking at Elias, who was standing in the doorway.

"What do you mean?" Ruth asked. "Snuck out!? Where'd she go?"

"I have a guess," Elias said. "Let's go see if I'm right."

"Can't you just track her because of her necklace?" Ruth asked.

"I guess that I could, but I'm fairly certain that I already know where she is," Elias said, turning away. "Are you coming?"

"Yeah," Ruth said, jumping off the bed and walking after Elias.

 **Meanwhile…**

Chise yawned. "Alright, what songs do you guys want me to sing?"

"Something fun!" one of the Fae said.

"Alright," Chise said, yawning again. "Six again this month, I guess, then I'm probably going to be too tired. I just hope that I can even make it that far."

"Of course you can!" one of the Ariels said with a smile. "Come on, start singing!"

Chise smiled, then began.

 **Chise sang Superhero by Lunafly-I might have the artist wrong-High Hopes by Panic! At the Disco, Praying by Kesha, Never Enough from The Greatest Showman, Rise by Katy Perry, then the Song of the Sea Lullaby.**

 **During Song of the Sea…**

Elias and Ruth stood at the edge of the clearing, where Chise was doing her best not to fall over from exhaustion.

"What is she doing?" Ruth asked, giving Elias an odd look.

"She will not tell me about it, but she did the same thing last month," Elias said. "My guess is that she does this every month, but for what reason, I do not know."

"Huh," Ruth said just as Chise finished singing…

...then fell to the ground, breathing hard.

"Well, looks like she's done," Elias said, walking forward. The Fae around Chise seemed to notice and backed away as Ruth walked after him. Elias leaned down and carefully picked up Chise, who was already asleep.

"Time to head home," Elias said, then turned and began to walk back in the direction of the house. Ruth followed him.

 **Sorry for the shorter chapter-I'm thinking that the next one should be longer, but it might not-I'm trying, though.**

 **Anyway, until next time!**

 **Lunetheart out.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello, and I'm back with another chapter of Not her first Auction.**

 **Sorry for the late update-has it really been a month? So sorry!**

 **Anyway, this chapter is basically Episode 19 and 20, when they are at the auction house dealing with the dragon-but what spin will there be with Chise's new past? This starts with the conversation about the dragon, and Chise borrowing someone's phone to call Seth.**

 **Anyway, I don't own Ancient Magus Bride.**

 **Enjoy!**

"Can I borrow someone's phone?" Chise asked.

"Sure," Renfred said- **I can't remember who gave her the phone, and I'm not going all the way back through the anime to figure it out** -handing her his phone.

Chise dialed Seth's number-which she had long since memorized-then put the phone to her ear.

After a few seconds, Seth answered. "Hello?"

"Hello," Chise answered in Japanese-the two of them had decided that, if Chise needed to call the auction house for whatever reason, then Japanese would be best to speak in, since the others wouldn't understand her, and speaking in other languages would signal that she needed to get out of there _ASAP_.

"Chise?!" Seth exclaimed, then continued in Japanese as well. "What-why are you calling?! Is everything alright?!"

"Yeah," Chise said. "I'm just calling to as if there's a dragon for sale at the auction, by any chance?"

"A dragon?" Seth echoed. "Why? Is everything alright?"

"It's a long story," Chise said.

"I see," Seth said. "Well, I'm in Paris at the moment, but I can probably find out. Just give me a second." She heard typing. "Alright, so there _is_ a dragon hatchling being sold at the next auction-starting price is 800,000, but who knows just how high that price will get, seeing that dragons for sale are as rare as sleigh beggies-although I'm sure that it likely won't reach five million. Are you going to be heading to the auction to bid for the hatchling?"

"Yes," Chise said.

Seth chuckled. "So you're going from an item at the auction to being one of the buyers. You're incredibly close to being sixteen, too."

Chise smiled. "I know. When you say it outloud, it really _does_ sound silly, doesn't it? But that's not the point. When's the next auction?"

"Four days from now," Seth said.

"Alright," Chise said. "In London?"

"As always," Seth said,

"Are you going to be there?" Chise asked.

"Of course I am," Seth said.

"Then we'll see you there," Chise said. "Bye."

"Bye," Seth said, then hung up.

Chise turned the phone off, then looked at everyone, who was giving her confused looks-even Ruth couldn't understand Japanese, so they had no idea what was just said. "Alright. So, unless there's other dragons for sale, there's one dragon hatchling being sold at the auction in four days." She handed the phone back to Renfred. "Thanks for letting me borrow your phone."

"Who did you call?" Torrey asked.

"Let's just say that I have a few...friends, in the auction house," Chise said.

"Really?" Alice asked, her eyes wide. "How'd you manage _that_ one?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," Chise said. "But, anyway, four days from now in London, starting price is 800,000."

They all stayed silent for a minute.

"Elias, have you ever considered getting Chise her own phone?" Renfred asked. "I have a feeling that she'd have a network of connections within five minutes."

 _Five minutes?_ Chise thought. _Well, jokes on you. I already_ have _a network of connections and memorized phone numbers-Ruth, you're not going to say anything._

 _What the heck is even up…_ came Ruth's response.

 **Four days later…**

The group walked into the auction house, and, almost instantly, the people all turned and _stared_ at them-mostly at Chise.

One person walked over, looking at Chise. "Hey, wait a minute, I know you. You're that-"

Seth quickly walked over to them. "Oh, hey, you're here!" He grabbed Chise's arm, then began to pull her towards the back, gesturing for the others to follow. Confused, they all did.

Once they were through a large set of doors, Seth made sure they were all there before he shut the doors behind them, then turned to Chise.

"You easily surprised everyone when you said that you were coming," Seth said, then looked at all of them. "Welcome. As you probably know, we were expecting you...well, not so many of you, but oh well."

"Exactly what happened back there?" Alice asked, raising an eyebrow.

Chise chuckled nervously. "Well, you know that I was sold here as an item before, right? Chances are, most of those people recognized me from that."

"Oh," Alice said.

"Yeah," Chise said.

"All of you can wait back here until the auction for the dragon begins at six," Seth said. "It'll be easiest if you're out of sight for a little while." He looked at Chise. "Especially you, for obvious reasons."

"Ok," Chise said, nodding.

Seth smiled, then looked at all of them. "Feel free to look around at what else we have here-but please don't touch anything."

"Alright," they all said, then started walking away. Meanwhile, Chise looked at Seth, then took off her scarf-throughout all that had happened in the past year, her scarf had gotten torn up and full of blood.

"Hey, Seth?" Chise asked. "If you don't mind me asking…"

Seth carefully took the scarf from her, neither one noticing that the others were looking.

"What happened to it?" Seth asked.

"It's a long story," Chise said. "Tons happened."

"I see," Seth said, handing the scarf back to her. "Well, seeing that you'll be turning sixteen in a few days, you'll be receiving the entire chest soon anyway, so it might be a good idea to just wait."

"Even if I'm not…" Chise trailed off.

"You surprise me," Seth said. "I take it that, after all these years, you're finally in a lasting situation?"

Chise smiled. "Yeah. I've finally found a home for myself." She sighed. "It took long enough, though."

"It's still happening, which is a good thing," Seth said. "Oh, wait, before I forget!" He took out a checkbook and handed it to her. "Use this to help purchase the dragon hatchling if you need it."

Chise gave him a strange look as she grabbed it. "What is this?"

"Well, first off, most of it is your inheritance from Eden-as you probably remember, he _did_ leave seventy-four percent of his fortune to you, and you've also technically been the item _and_ the seller with being part of the auction…"

Chise's face grew pale. "E-Exactly how much _is_ that?"

"Nobody was willing to do the math," Seth shrugged. "And I mean that _literally_. All we know is that it's enough to actually buy the auction house, although I hope you don't do that. Technically, we shouldn't be giving you this seeing that you're still fifteen-even if it's just barely, but still. So, don't just say some large number out of the blue-and give this back when you're done. We'll send it with the chest, but still."

"Ok," Chise said, nodding. "Got it."

"Good," Seth said. "Now, I need to get going. See you later." With that, he walked away, and Alice walked over.

"Hey, Chise, what's with the checkbook?" Alice asked.

Chise looked at her. "Well, let's just say that there's no way that we aren't getting the dragon hatchling now."

 **During the auction…**

"And now, everyone, for the main auction," Seth said. The curtains were drawn back to reveal…

...the dragon hatchling in a cage.

Everyone gasped, and Chise's eyes grew wide.

 _No more._

The bidding began, but Chise was barely listening-Adolf was in charge of the bidding, and she had already told him to go only as high as he needed to, so it wasn't like she really had to pay attention to the prices, so instead, she paid attention to the dragon hatchling...which looked desperate.

 _Are you alright?_ Ruth asked, but Chise wasn't listening.

 _Scared,_ Chise thought, her mind flashing through times she'd been up there...scared out of her mind...especially the last time…

It wasn't long into the bidding when the dragon started thrashing around more, and it tore at Chise's heart-she was trembling, just _forcing_ herself not to move.

Alice seemed to notice this, and she put a hand on Chise's shoulder. "Hey, are you alright?"

The others-save Adolf-all looked at Chise, but she still didn't notice.

"Chise?" Alice said just as the dragon hatchling started to ooze a black substance. Seth's eyes went wide as the cage broke, and a full-grown dragon came out, black and full of razor-sharp feathers. People screamed and began to flee.

"We have to detain it!" Alice said, then looked at Chise. "Hey, can you-what's wrong?!"

They all looked to see Chise crying as she stood up-the others were crouched behind the bench in front of them.

"It's scared," Chise said through her tears, images of herself up there flashing through her mind. "It just wants to go home."

"Wait, you can read it's mind?!" Torrey asked.

"Chise, get down!" Elias said, pulling her down to avoid a fire blast, and he hugged her to him.

"Those emotions aren't yours," Elias said. "See? You're here with us. Don't let yourself freeze in fear."

"Elias," Chise said, looking up at him. "W-We have to get the hatchling back to Lindel!"

Elias shifted, standing up. "Don't worry. That's exactly what we're here to do."

"Get out of here!" Seth yelled, then ran off stage. The dragon blasted more fire, and Merituuli appeared.

"Naughty dragon-calm down!" Merituuli said.

"Merituuli!" Adolf said.

"I find a hidey-hole, but need to help!" Merituuli said.

The dragon roared…

 **And that's it for this chapter! What did you think?**

 **Basically, after this, it's the same as it is in the actual plot, so the next chapter will be around the time that Chise wakes up-I think. I'll let you know when it comes out-sorry if it's a little while before that happens!**

 **Anyway, until next time!**

 **Lunetheart out.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello, and I'm back with another chapter of Not her first Auction.**

 **Sorry for taking so long to update-I know, I should probably update more often, but writer's block sucks.**

 **I don't own Ancient Magus Bride.**

 **Enjoy!**

Chise woke up with a groan-everything hurt _really_ bad, but it wasn't like she hadn't felt pain before. She slowly sat up, then looked around...why was she in Elias's bed?

"Ah, you're awake."

Chise turned her head to see Shannon.

"Oh, hi," Chise said.

"How are you feeling?" Shannon asked slowly.

"Everything hurts," Chise said, then began to bring her hands up to her head…

...to realize _two_ things.

One, her left arm was big and strange looking-it kinda looked a little like a branch-ish kinda thing.

Anf two..,

The glamour that had been hiding her scars had disappeared.

Chise stared at her arms, horrified.

"I'd say you must've been beaten up real bad, but those scars aren't exactly new," Shannon said. "What...what _happened_ to you?"

Chise hesitated-should she really say? Even Elias didn't know the full story-at least, she was pretty sure he didn't. There were even parts that she managed to hide from Ruth.

"Well?" Shannon asked just as Angela, Elias, Ruth, Alice, and Renfred came into the room.

"Chise!" Angela exclaimed, then rushed at her, giving her a big hug.

"Eh," Elias started.

"She beat you to her, you idiot," Shannon said,

Angela pulled back, then slapped Chise.

"Why did you rush into danger?" Angela demanded angrily. "You could've been killed-and what's with all these scars?!"

Chise didn't say anything for a moment.

"Well?" Angela asked.

"Those aren't from the dragon," Alice said quietly. "Those scars are too old-they were already healing."

"Chise...what happened to you?" Elias asked.

"I don't wanna talk about it," Chise said quietly.

"Why not?" Elias asked.

"I...I just...don't," Chise said. "I'm fine, really."

"No, you are not," Elias said. "Scars aside...your arm, as you've noticed."

Chise looked at her cursed arm. "Yeah."

"By saving the dragon, you took its curse," Elias said. "Meaning that...it could kill you."

Chise's eyes grew wide, and she looked at Elias. "R-Really?"

Elias nodded.

Chise didn't say anything-she just stared at her arms, horrified.

 _Just when I was starting to realize that I_ didn't _want to die, too._

 **And that's the end of the chapter! What did you think?**

 **So sorry that it's pretty short, but the next chapter is going to be important-I think.**

 **Anyway, until next time!**

 **Lunetheart out.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello, and I'm back with another chapter of Not her first Auction.**

 **I don't own Ancient Magus Bride.**

 **Also, I don't own all of the ideas in this chapter-I got some suggestions from Bard of Innail, so thanks for the help!**

 **Enjoy!**

Chise sat down next to the dragon, wearing a cloak-to cover her twisted arm, as well as to hide the scars.

She didn't say anything about what had happened to her-and because she was starting to get flashbacks to the others that had bought her just by looking at the scars, she was blocking a worried Ruth out. Silke was starting to get worried, too, especially since Chise had started to eat less.

It had been an entire week since Chise had woken up, and she was sure that she was worrying everyone. Alice and Renfred had visited twice, despite the fact that it had only been a week. Angela had been bugging her about it, but Chise refused to say a single word about her past. Simon had asked about why she was wearing a cloak at all times, then answered his own question by saying that it was probably because of the temperature outside.

 _I...I just want to pretend nothing happened,_ Chise thought, holding back tears as another flashback came into her head.

 _Screaming. Chise was begging for him to stop-she didn't want to be used like a human battery anymore._

" _Quit your crying," the person said-she couldn't remember his name-had he ever told it to her? Probably not, she was just a guinea pig for this twisted man's experiments-an energy source, too. And she couldn't stand it._

" _PLEASE!" Chise yelled. "Please stop!"_

" _Stop crying-you'll be asleep before you know it," the person said just as the pain grew worse._

 _If there was one thing Chise knew, it was that the pain wouldn't go away even if she_ did _fall unconscious._

The flashback ended, but it left Chise feeling like she wanted to cry.

With a sigh, Chise stood up. _I'm going to go for a walk to clear my head-I don't care if Elias or Ruth gets mad at me. I just need some time to myself._ With that, Chise walked away, wrapping her cloak around herself.

 **Meanwhile…**

Elias and Ruth weren't even at the house-they had slipped out the back door and walked away out of Chise's sight.

Elias knocked on Simon's door.

"Coming, coming," Simon said, opening the door. He blinked with surprise. "Elias-Ruth. What brings you here?"

"I hope you don't mind, but as we do not have a phone, I was wondering if I could borrow yours for a few minutes to call someone," Elias said.

Simon raised an eyebrow. "You need to call someone? Don't you usually just send a letter?"

"We need to talk to them now," Ruth said.

Ok," Simon said. "Well, come in, I guess."

Elias and Ruth walked into Simon's house-it was really small, but they could still fit inside.

Simon walked over to the table, then grabbed his phone, handing it to Elias.

"You memorized the number you're trying to call, right?" Simon asked.

"I asked Renfred to tell it to us just in case," Elias said, then gave it a confused look. "Um...how do you dial a number on this?"

"You press the buttons for the numbers," Ruth said, taking the phone and dialing the number. He hit call, then handed it back to Elias.

Elias put it to his ear, and he waited as it rung.

After a minute, Seth picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hello," Elias said.

"Oh, Mr. Ainsworth," Seth said, sounding surprised.

"I was wondering if I could as you a few questions?" Elias asked.

"About what?" Seth asked.

"Chise is covered in scars, as you know, but she won't tell us why," Elias said. Ruth leaned closer to the phone, listening as well. "And she's been acting more distant since we learned about them-but the scars are rather old. Did something happen to her?"

Seth stayed silent for a minute.

"Well?" Eias asked.

"If Chise won't tell you...well, there's a reason for that," Seth said, then sighed. "In all honesty, I shouldn't be telling you this, but at the same time...it might be best if you know."

At this point, Simon walked over and grabbed the phone, turning it to speaker.

"What can you tell us?" Simon asked.

"Who else is there?" Seth asked, confused.

"Elias, Ruth, and I'm Simon," Simon said, then gave Elias a confused look. "I didn't know Chise was covered in scars, though."

"That's the real reason she's been wearing the cloak," Ruth said.

Seth sighed. "I should've guessed that she would try to hide the scars-not that I can blame her."

"What happened?" Elias asked.

"Is Chise around you at all?" Seth asked. "Any way for her to overhear what I'm about to say?"

"I'd hope not," Simon said, looking around. "We're at my house-I don't think she knows where I live, actually."

"Good," Seth said. "Now, to start, I have a question-are you aware that when you bought her, it was not her first auction?"

"I'd heard rumors, but I wasn't completely sure," Elias said.

"Well, it was far from her first," Seth said. "You were the tenth person to buy her."

"Wait, seriously?" Simon asked, his eyes wide.

"I had no idea," Ruth said quietly.

"Yeah," Seth said. "The first person that bought her was named Eden Dumont-older man, but incredibly kind. He had her for a year, then he...passed away. A friend of his bought Chise next...and Chise was sold back a year after that due to the friend going bankrupt. Both of them were relatively nice people...but they were the only ones out of the nine."

"What happened after that?" Ruth asked.

"The next buyer was interested in all the power Chise has-and decided to try to use her like a human battery," Seth said.

"A _what_!?" the three asked angrily.

"Yeah," Seth said. "She got a hold of me a year later, and begged for something to be done. We looked into his past, found some unresolved crimes, as well as potential kidnappings, and used that to get him arrested. We wanted to stop selling her at the auction house, but due to the fact that she's one of a kind, we couldn't just do that, so we had no choice but to sell her to the next person, who did the exact same thing. We found creative ways to get Chise back after that, but we had no choice but to sell her over and over again. Buyers three, four, five, six, and seven were the same-they wanted to take her power and use her like a human battery. Number eight...number eight decided that it would be best to use her _blood_ for energy, and tried to fuse her blood with his-the massive amount of energy caused him to explode."

"That's horrible," Simon said quietly. "I guess we know where the scars are from."

"Not quite," Seth said.

"What do you mean, _not quite_?" Ruth demanded.

"That was buyer number _eight_ ," Seth said. "Elias, you were the _tenth_."

"What did the ninth do?" Elias asked.

Seth took a deep breath. "Apparently, before he bought Chise, he had a daughter, named Teegan Junica-the man was Liam Junica. Well, before he bought Chise, he hit poor Teegan on the head so hard that he killed her. In a panic, he bought Chise from the auction house and forced her to pretend to be Teegan."

"He _killed_ his daughter?!" Simon exclaimed.

"We didn't discover this until a year later," Seth said. "But that's not the point right now. He bought Chise from the auction house and treated her like Teegan-as you can probably guess, that means highly abusive." He took another breath. "As you probably know, Chise sings and dances for the Fae once a month-and that's when we realized what was wrong. A bunch of Fae began to swarm to alchemists and others that could see them, begging for help-saying that Chise was in danger. That's when we did some more digging on Liam Junica, and that's when we learned about Teegan. Some help from the Fae and more digging around revealed her grave. Horrified, I took the police to Liam's house. We asked to see her, and he refused. We went into the house anyway...there was a bloodstain on the floor."

Elias, Ruth, and Simon gasped. Simon put a hand over his mouth, and Ruth looked _angry_. But it was nothing compared to how angry Elias looked-for someone that didn't seem to show much emotion, he was clearly the angriest in the room.

"I ordered for his arrest and went into the house to find Chise," Seth said. "And when I found her...there was so much blood. She was covered in wounds, bruises-it looked really bad. I brought her to the hospital-I never got the full story from her, though. She doesn't like to talk about it, as you can probably guess. We tried to keep quiet about it, but people learned about her again-she didn't want to be sold, but we couldn't do anything about it until she turned sixteen."

"Why sixteen?" Simon whispered.

"Eden Dumont adopted her-she was his daughter-and he was kind to her," Seth said. "But, the other thing with him was that he was rich beyond belief. When he died, he specifically stated in his will that Chise could inherit the money he left her when she turned sixteen-then she could buy herself back, and she would be free." He sighed. "The money that we gave her to work with at the auction house-the auction for the dragon? That money was her inheritance, as well as the money she gained from being sold at the auction-half of the value she was bought for. We weren't supposed to give it to her, so we had to take it back after the auction, but still. We decided that, when she turned sixteen, we would take her back, and she would be free." He chuckled sadly. "But from the sounds of it, she's found somewhere to call home-I just hope that she survives."

"She will," Elias said. "I will make sure of it."

"That's good," Seth said. "But still. There's hardly any way for her to survive with the curse of the dragon-and the fact that she's a sleigh beggy doesn't help matters. At this point, it might be best for her to call upon an old Promise and hope that a particular Fae can save her."

"Who?" Elias asked. "Who would she call upon?"

"You'll have to ask her," Seth said. "Oh, and before I forget. She is turning sixteen tomorrow." **(A/N: I don't know if that actually lines up with her birthday, but for the sake of the story, I'm just going to say that it will**.) "Before long, I will come by to make sure that she's fine with staying there, and if she is, then I need to give her her inheritance, as well as...something else left for her." A voice was heard in the background. "Well, I have to go. Tell Chise that I say hi, and I'll see her soon." With that, he hung up, leaving the three in stunned silence.

After a minute, Elias closed the phone and handed it to Simon, then began to leave.

"W-Where you going?" Simon asked.

"To find Chise," Elias said, walking out the door. Ruth followed him.

What they didn't realize was that it was going to be hard for them to find her.

 **Dun dun dun! No, not really, but still. Cliffhanger! What did you think?**

 **I should be updating before too long, but writer's block sucks, and I** _ **might**_ **decide to just power through a different fanfiction that I'm working on and finish that before continuing-then again, I might decide to put** _ **that**_ **on pause and just continue with this for a while-I don't know yet.**

 **Anyway, until next time!**

 **Lunetheart out.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello, and I'm back with another chapter of Not her first Auction.**

 **I'm going to mainly be focusing on this fanfic for a little while because I'm out of ideas on my other one, so I should be updating this one more frequently until the end of it.**

 **I don't own Ancient Magus Bride.**

 **Enjoy!**

Chise sat on the brick wall, doing her best to block out her flashbacks-and Ruth, who was trying to get to her more desperately than before, for whatever reason.

 _Why can't they just leave me alone?_ Chise wondered, pulling her cloak around her more tightly. _Everything's starting to get more tense around here._

She sighed, hugging her knees to her chest. "I just wish that Lilac would come back and get me out of this situation."

"Well, that can be arranged."

Chise gapsed, standing up and spinning around to see…

"Cartaphil-I-I mean, Joseph," Chise said, tensing up-should she try to contact Ruth or Elias and warn them? No, she would deal with this on her own. "Why are you here? You'd better not be here to take back the dragon!"

"Oh, far from it!" Joseph said, sounding strangely happy. "Don't worry-that dragon will remain untouched by me-at least, it will if you stay to talk to me."

"What do you want?" Chise asked.

"Just a second ago, you mentioned Lilac-I assume that you mean Promise?" Joseph asked.

"Yeah, why?" Chise asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The stories say that she can do anything you want as long as you promise her something in return-isn't that true?" Joseph asked.

 _Oh, yeah, he mentioned wanting to live a painless life,_ Chise remembered. _And the thing is...it's the same thing_ I _want, too, deep down-isn't it?_

"Are you trying to ask her to take the pain away?" Chise asked.

"To some extent," Joseph said. "But at least we're on the same page at the moment, are we not?"

"I guess we are," Chise said. "But what do you mean 'to some extent'?"

"Eternal life is such a pain," Joseph said. "I've been cursed to live forever...and you've been cursed to die, have you not?"

"What are you saying?" Chise asked.

"What if there was a way to cancel out our curses?" Joseph asked. "I've been searching for an answer for over two thousand years, but it wasn't until I brought the dragon to the auction house that I learned of Lilac."

"That was you?!" Chise asked angrily. "How could you do such a thing?! Is the other dragon still alive?!"

A small smile played at Joseph's lips. "Oh, I have no intention to kill either-however, if an accident were to happen, as they _always_ do…"

"If you dare touch another scale on either one-" Chise started.

"And this is where we make a deal!" Joseph interrupted happily.

"What do you mean?" Chise demanded.

"Well, easy!" Joseph said. "You want to continue to live, and you want me to release the dragon. _I_ want to die...and I want to find Lilac, or Promise, as her true name is. Now, I'm afraid that I can't do that on my own-that former familiar is surprisingly impossible to find, although there's a rumor I heard that someone that's made a deal with her has the ability to call upon her." His smile grew. "If you can do that for me, we can cancel out _both_ our curses, and I'll release the dragon hatchling." He held out a hand to her. "So? Are you willing to make this deal? Or would you rather not call upon her...and die yourself?"

Chise paused, thinking.

 _I want to live...I want to forget the pain...I...I want…_

Chise opened her mouth to reply just as they heard shouting in the distance.

"I think she's this way!"

"I'm certain that she is."

Chise turned in that direction. _Ruth...and Elias._

Joseph looked as well. "Well, then, I guess that we had best be leaving-unless you would rather not make the deal? You have a few seconds, because otherwise I have to get out of here."

"I'll help you," Chise said.

Joseph smiled. "Oh?"

"I promise-me summoning her, and you releasing the dragons," Chise said, then took his hand just as Elias and Ruth came running in their direction.

"Chise!" Elias said, then stopped. "Cartaphilus?"

Chise looked at the two of them, and in their eyes, she saw worry and fear...but was it completely because of Joseph?

"Chise, come here," Elias said.

 _Chise, come here._ Another short flashback went through her head-those words had been said to her multiple times over the years, and even if she didn't mean to, she flinched away a little-but it did not go unnoticed by Elias and Ruth-or Joseph, who took out a teleportation device, and the two disappeared.

"CHISE!"

 **Dun dun dun! Perfect spot for a chapter break, right? And now things are about to get interesting…**

 **I'm going to be focusing on this fanfic for a little while, so updating should be more frequent-then again, I never know how it's going to go with my brain.**

 **Anyway, until next time!**

 **Lunetheart out.**


	12. Chapter 12

Hello, and I'm back with another chapter of Not her first Auction.

I don't own Ancient Magus Bride.

Enjoy!

When the light faded, Chise found herself standing in a small park in...was it...Paris?

"Oh, and before I forget," Joseph said, then pointed at her necklace. "You might want to do something about that."

Chise carefully took the necklace off, then walked over to a small playground nearby. She tied the necklace onto one of the swings.

"Why not throw it into the river?" Joseph asked, pointing at the river nearby.

"I'm not giving up on living with Elias and Ruth-I won't do that to them," Chise said.

"You almost seemed afraid of them back there," Joseph said. "Mind if I ask why?"

Chise hesitated, then took off her cloak, exposing all her scars. Joseph's eyes grew wide.

"These scars are from people that bought me before Elias," Chise said, looking at Joseph. "You said that you knew about me having a promise with Lilac. So surely you know that I've been through plenty between then and now."

"I had a guess, but are you sure that you're alright?" Joseph asked.

"I'll be fine," Chise said. "They don't really hurt anymore-well, it's not a pain that I really notice. Usually, I have a glamour to cover up the scars, but it faded when I got the dragon's curse." She took a deep breath, then walked back over to Joseph. "But that's not the point right now. I'm not going to summon Lilac right here-that's not exactly how it works."

"Then where can you summon her?" Joseph asked.

"Once a month, I dance for the Fae," Chise said. "She didn't tell me when we made the deal-it was an after-the-fact comment."

*flashback*

"Oh, Chise!"

Chise looked at Lilac. She was reading a small book in French-she had made Lilac teach her a few languages besides Japanese and English so she would be able to talk to all kinds of people.

"What, Lilac?" Chise asked.

"I just realized that I forgot to say something when we made our deal!" Lilac said.

"What?" Chise asked. "Do you want me to do something else, too?"

"Oh, no, no-well, not technically," Lilac said. "Moreover, it's a way to call me to you if you absolutely need it."

"Call you to me?" Chise asked. "What do you mean by that?"

Lilac sat down next to her-she had just come into the room. "Well, I said that should we meet again, I would bring you away if you need me to-remember?"

"For three songs a month and a bit of my hair," Chise said. "And you would also make sure I had a nice family buy me."

"Exactly!" Lilac said. "But I forgot to mention-there's a way to call me if you really need me-but only once, and I don't want you to risk it, since it takes magic energy, and potentially help from other Fae-but not enough that just a few can give you."

"How many Fae?" Chise asked.

Lilac thought for a few seconds. "At least ten, I'd say."

"T-Ten!?" Chise asked, her eyes wide. "How would I get ten Fae to help me?!"

"To call upon me?" Lilac asked. "Almost impossible-but there might be a way for you to generate that magic energy yourself-although that's dangerous, and it could kill you."

"Then why are you telling me about this?" Chise asked.

"Just in case you need me," Lilac said. "Also, I probably should have already mentioned it-I tell everyone that I make a deal with, just in case they need me, or I don't uphold part of my end of the deal."

"Ok," Chise said. "So, what would I have to do?"

"You'd have to sing ten specific songs," Lilac said. "But if you're behind on singing, then you can't summon me."

"What songs?" Chise asked.

"They have to be in this specific order," Lilac said. "Do your best to remember them exactly as I'm going to say them. The first song is A Million Dreams from the Greatest Showman. Got that?"

"That song hasn't been around for too long, you know," Chise said. "Does the list change every so often?"

"Of course it does," Lilac said. "Got that song?"

"A Million Dreams from the Greatest Showman," Chise said. "Got it."

"The second song is Soldier by Samantha Jade," Lilac said.

"Soldier by Samantha Jade," Chise said. "Got it."

"The third song is 10 by Elouiz," Lilac said.

"10 by Elouiz," Chise said. "Got it."

"The fourth song is Stand Out Fit In by ONE OK ROCK," Lilac said.

"Stand Out Fit In by ONE OK ROCK," Chise said. "Got it."

"The fifth song is Weak by Daphne Khoo," Lilac said.

"Weak by Daphne Khoo," Chise said. "Got it."

"The sixth song is Mama Said by Lukas Graham," Lilac said.

"Mama Said by Lukas Graham," Chise said. "Got it."

"Seventh is Battle Scars by Paradise Fears," Liliac said.

"Battle Scars by Paradise Fears," Chise said. "Got it."

"Eighth is This is Me from the Greatest Showman," Lilac said.

"This is Me from the Greatest Showman," Chise said. "Got it."

"Ninth is Colors by Halsey," Lilac said.

"Colors by Halsey," Chise said. "Got it."

"The final song is Catch My Breath by Kelly Clarkson," Lilac said.

"Catch My Breath by Kelly Clarkson," Chise said. "Got it."

"Recite the songs in order," Lilac said.

"A Millions Dreams from the Greatest Showman, Soldier by Samantha Jade, 10 by Elouiz, Stand Out Fit In by ONE OK ROCK, Weak by Daphne Khoo, Mama Said by Lukas Graham, Battle Scars by Paradise Fears, This is Me from the Greatest Showman, Colors by Halsey, and Catch My Breath by Kelly Clarkson," Chise said.

"Exactly!" Lilac said, a big smile on her face. "Never sing those songs in that direct order unless you need to summon me for whatever reason-but only if you absolutely must. Ok?"

"Ok," Chise said, then smirked. "I promise that I won't unless I have to."

Lilac laughed. "I've heard that joke more times than you'd guess, you know!"

"I know-and that's why it's so funny!" Chise said.

*end flashback*

"So you just have to sing ten songs, and she'll come to you?" Joseph asked, raising an eyebrow. "That's really simple."

"So I can remember it," Chise said. "Now, I don't want to summon her here-especially since Elias can track the necklace, and I don't want him to come and interrupt."

"Do we also have to find ten Fae that are willing to help?" Joseph asked.

Chise sighed. "That's probably the hardest part. Oh, wait!" She clasped her hands together. "When I dance each month, it always seems like there's tons of Fae there."

"Then why haven't you summoned her yet?" Joseph asked, raising an eyebrow. "With all those scars, you'd think that you would have summoned her to get out of a situation by now."

"I don't want to bother her," Chise said. "I've been hoping to prove to her that I can live my life without her help." She chuckled sheepishly. "Also, with all the scars...I either got behind a few months and couldn't, or didn't have time to sing those six songs before I either fell over from exhaustion, pain, one of the buyers came and got me-sometimes a weird mix of the three."

"Oh," Joseph said.

"I'll sing three songs, then ask the Fae for help," Chise said. "Once I do that, then I'll sing those ten and summon her."

"Alright!" Joseph said happily. "There's no risk of summoning your friends, right?"

"There shouldn't," Chise said. "But we should get going-I can summon her outside of the city where nobody will see us."

"Ok!" Joseph said.

Chise began to run, and Joseph followed.

With Elias and Ruth…

"NO!" Elias bellowed angrily, then turned to Ruth. "Can you track her?!"

"She's blocking me," Ruth said. "Can you track her with the necklace?"

"Give me a second," Elias said, then began to mutter something.

"Wait!" Ruth said. "We should get help from the others-they should at least know what's going on, right?"

"Good idea," Elias said, then looked around. "I'm going to find an Ariel to make all this faster, then we'll head to Alice, Renfred, and Angela-I have a feeling that we're going to need their help."

"Got it," Ruth said, and the two of them ran into the forest, hoping that they would find an Ariel soon.

And that's it for this chapter! What do you think?

I should be updating before too long.

I know that it seems strange that Chise could just summon Lilac if she needed her-I honestly completely forgot to mention it, but I was planning it for a really long time, then went back to reference to it, and that's when I realized that I hadn't said anything! Sorry about that! It makes less sense that Chise didn't summon her beforehand, but like she said, she had reasons behind it.

Anyway, enough with my rambling. Until next time!

Lunetheart out.


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello, and I'm back with another chapter of Not her first Auction.**

 **I don't own Ancient Magus Bride.**

 **Enjoy!**

Chise took a deep breath, standing, ready to sing and dance. She looked at Joseph. "Ready?"

Joseph nodded, pulling up Chise's cloak-she had given it to him, just in case the Fae wanted to attack him when they got there. He also backed into the shadows of the trees near them-they were in a forest clearing, which was absolutely perfect for what they needed.

Chise took another deep breath, then began to sing.

 **A/N: She sings Who You Are by Jessie J, High Hopes by Panic! At the Disco, and Wolf in Sheep's Clothing by Set It Off.**

While Chise sang and danced, Fae began to gather around her, and Joseph pulled the cloak around himself tightly, hoping that the Fae wouldn't start to attack him.

As soon as Chise was done, she let out a sigh of relief, then looked at the Faee surrounding her.

Chise smiled. "Helllo!"

"Hi!" all the Fae said.

"Mind if I ask for help from ten of you?" Chise asked.

"Depends," an Ariel said. "What do you want?"

Chise took a sharp breath. "I'm trying to summon...Promise."

The Fae gasped, and a few flew away, but most stayed, seeming confused and a little concerned.

"Why would you want to summon _that_ creature?" a Fae asked.

 _What did she_ do _?_ Chise wondered.

"I want to make a deal with her," Chise said. "I need the help of ten Fae in order to make that happen. Please? You can leave as soon as I'm done."

The Fae exchanged glances, then most of the remaining ones left, leaving eleven.

"Well, if you insist that we can leave right away," one said. "Then alright. Summon her-we'll lend you the power that you need."

Chise smiled. "Thank you so much! Just give me a second to catch my breath, then I'll start." She took a few deep breaths, then straightened her back.

 **Meanwhile…**

Elias and Ruth burst into Alice and Renfred's apartment, much to the confusion of the two, who had been eating supper.

"Renfred, Alice, we need your help!" Ruth said.

"What's wrong?" Alice asked, standing up.

"How did you even know this was our apartment?" Renfred asked.

"That doesn't matter right now-Chise's in trouble!" Elias said. "We still have to talk to Angela for help, then we're going to try to track her down."

"Where's Chise?" Alice asked, her eyes wide.

"All we know was that Joseph kidnapped her!" Ruth said.

"Give us a second," Renfred said, grabbing his coat. "Alice."

"Right!" Alice said, grabbing her jacket as well.

 **A few minutes later…**

Elias, Ruth, Alice, and Renfred burst into Angela's shop- **I don't know how close their apartment is to Angela's shop, but assuming that they'd run fast no matter what, they would get there fast anyway-** which confused Angela, her husband, and their daughter-they were shelving a few books.

"Is something wrong?" Angela asked.

"Well, Chise just got kidnapped!" Alice said.

"By Joseph!" Ruth added.

"We need your help," Renfred said.

Althea sighed. "Of _course_ a _sleigh beggy_ got kidnapped."

Angela looked at Althea and David. "I've gotta go-can you two keep shelving books?"

"But-" Althea started.

"It's too dangerous for you to come along, and Chise needs our help!" Angela said, then sighed. "Seriously, she's covered in scars, should be relaxing, and she _still_ gets kidnapped! You should've been looking after her better, Elias! And Ruth, you're her familiar!"

"She's been blocking me out!" Ruth complained.

"And I think that we found out why she has so many scars," Elias said.

Alice, Renfred, and Angela gave him surprised looks.

"Well, you could've mentioned that _earlier_ ," Renfred said. "What happened?!"

"Tell you later!" Ruth said. "We need to get going!"

"That's right!" the Ariel sitting on Elias's shoulder said.

Angela looked at Althea. "We'll continue this conversation later, alright?" She turned to Elias. "Well, if she's blocking Ruth, then he can't track her- _please_ tell me that you can."

"I believe she's somewhere in Paris-her position hasn't changed for a while," Elias said. "I'm worried."

"Then let's get going!" Angela said.

Elias nodded at the Ariel, which began to cast a spell.

 **Back to Chise…**

Chise took a final deep breath, then began to sing.

 **(A/N: I'm not going to type up all the songs because I'm too lazy and there's ten of them-instead, to make it a little more dramatic, I'll put the name each song separately. I suggest listening to them-some of them surprisingly remind me of what Chise has gone through...I wonder if that's a coincidence...)**

 **A Million Dreams from the Greatest Showman**

Chise looked at the Fae around her, and she noticed that the air was looking a little sparkly-and it just felt _full_ of magic.

With a smile, Chise started her next song.

 **Soldier by Samantha Jade**

As Chise sang the last note, more magic filled the air, and Joseph cringed, stepping farther back. Chise took a deep breath, the air suddenly seeming a little too thick-probably because of the magic.

 **Meanwhile…**

Elias, Ruth, Alice, Renfred, and Angela landed in Paris, in the park where they found…

...nobody.

"She should _be_ here," Elias said, looking around frantically. "This is where...oh."

They all looked in the direction he was, and that's when they saw it.

Chise's necklace on a swing set.

Elias walked over and tore it off, breaking the leather, but he didn't care-he'd replace it later.

He stared at it, then clenched his fist around it.

"CHISE!"

"My, my, aren't you angry?"

They all turned to see Titania and Oberon nearby.

"W-What are you doing here?" Angela asked, her eyes wide.

"Well, that's simple," Titania said. " _Someone_ is trying to summon a certain Fae that we're _very_ interested in seeing."

"Do you know where Chise is?" Ruth asked. "Please, we can't find her!"

"We're heading to her right now," Oberon said.

Angela's eyes grew wide. "S-She's doing a summoning?! That could kill her!"

"Which is why we must hurry-but we might not get there in time," Titania said.

"If we can chip in some magic, it'll make her more likely to survive!" Oberon added.

"Summonings are too dangerous," Elias said. "Take us to her-we must stop her!"

"You aren't allowed to interfere with it," Titania said. "You must promise us that first."

"But-" Elias started.

"We aren't moving from this spot until you agree-and with each passing second, Chise comes closer to and closer to potential death," Titania said. "Of course, it's not confirmed that she _will_ , but still."

Elias's eyes were red with rage. "You are find with her doing something so dangerous?!"

"She's done more dangerous before," Oberon said.

And so, they began to argue.

 **Back with Chise…**

After just breathing for a minute, Chise felt better, and she began to sing the next song.

 **10 by Eloze**

Chise gasped out for breath-there was too much magic in the air, but she knew that she had to keep going.

 _Lilac said not to summon her unless I had to-is this why? Because it's getting harder for me to breath?_

After a few seconds, she managed to get more air in her lungs, but she continued to breath, just in case.

"Maybe you should stop," Joseph said, sounding worried. "I'll release the dragon hatchling just for you trying-promise! Just stop!"

Chise looked at him-the Fae didn't seem to care about him, maybe because they were concentrating on the mass amount of magic energy they were using. "I can't stop now-I'm not just doing this for you anymore. Like you said, I can ask her to help me live longer-I need to do this." She took a deep breath. "Just give me a second."

 **Back with the others…**

After arguing for a solid minute, Elias finally dropped his case, agreeing that he wouldn't stop Chise...as long as she didn't nearly die. Titania and Oberon agreed that if she should come to near death, they would teleport her to the Ant Hill to get her taken care of ASAP.

So, with the argument over, the group followed Titania and Oberon through the streets, which were practically abandoned-but, just in case, Elias shifted into human form-at least, for now.

 **Back to Chise…**

Chise took a large breath. "Alright. I'm ready." With that, she began to sing.

 **Stand Out Fit In by ONE OK ROCK**

Chise gasped for breath, nearly falling to the ground.

"Be careful!" Joseph warned. "Please, you have to stop-your body can't handle another song, let along six!"

"I-I have to do this," Chise said, shakingly on her feet. "I have to do this. One more. One more and I'm halfway."

"And you're already halfway to death!" Joseph said. "Please!"

Chise ignored him. She caught her breath quickly, then began to sing.

 **Weak by Daphne Khoo**

Chise gasped for breath, but this time, it was easier to breath-was she just getting used to the magic energy around her?

She took another breath, then started the next song, ignoring Joseph's pleas for her to stop.

 **Mama Said by Lukas Graham**

Chise felt a little lightheaded, but she was still able to breath, so that was a plus. She smiled at Joseph.

"Six songs down, four to go," she told him.

"But you're-" Joseph started.

"Going to be alright-I'm adjusting to the magic in the air," Chise said, then began to sing the next song.

 **Battle Scars by Paradise Fears**

Chise stopped singing, barely needing to catch her breath this time.

"Three more songs!" Chise said. She took a breath, then began the next song.

 **This is Me from the Greatest Showman**

Chise barely stopped for a breath between the songs. She took a breath, then began to sing again.

 **Colors by Halsey**

Chise stopped for a few seconds. "One song left!" She didn't pay attention to the near-green air around her. She just took a deep breath and began.

 **(A/N: I'm going to type up the last song because stuff is going to be happening during this one-things are about to get interesting)**

 **Catch My Breath by Kelly Clarkson**

" _I don't wanna be left behind._

 _Distance was a friend of mine_

 _Catching breath in a web of lies_

 _I've spent most of my life_

 _Riding waves, playing acrobat_

 _Shadowboxing the other half_

 _Learning how to react_

 _I've spent most of my time,"_

At this moment, Titania and Oberon burst into the clearing, closely followed by Elias, Ruth, Alice, Renfred, and Angela. Joseph hid slightly behind a tree, as if afraid of them.

Chise noticed them, but she didn't even hesitate to continue-she had to summon Lilac-she was so close!

" _Catching my breath, letting it go,_

 _Turning my cheek for the sake of this show_

 _Now that you know, this is my life_

 _I won't be told what's supposed to be right_

 _Catch my breath, no one can hold me back, I ain't got time for that_

 _Catch my breath, won't let them get me down, it's all so simple now."_

Chise allowed herself a quick breath, looking at her friends-even with the air turning many different colors, she could still see them. Their eyes were wide, and they looked worried. She felt more magic join in.

 _Are Titania and Oberon...helping? But...why?_

There was time to dwell on that thought-she had to keep going-she had to focus on singing.

" _Addicted to the love I found,_

 _Heavy heart, now a weightless cloud_

 _Making time for the ones that count_

 _I'll spend the rest of my time_

 _Laughing hard with the windows down_

 _Leaving footprints all over town_

 _Keeping faith, Karma comes around_

 _I will spend the rest of my life_

 _Catching my breath, letting it go,_

 _Turning my cheek for the sake of this show_

 _Now that you know, this is my life_

 _I won't be told what's supposed to be right_

 _Catch my breath, no one can hold me back, I ain't got time for that_

 _Catch my breath, won't let them get me down, it's all so simple now."_

The colors in the air began to swirl around a certain spot that began to glow pure white.

 _That must be Lilac! She's almost here!_

With this in mind, Chise stopped dancing, looking at the spot.

" _You helped me see_

 _The beauty in everything."_

She paused for almost too long, then began to dance again.

" _Catching my breath, letting it go,_

 _Turning my cheek for the sake of this show_

 _Now that you know, this is my life_

 _I won't be told what's supposed to be right_

 _Catching my breath, letting it go,_

 _Turning my cheek for the sake of this show_

 _Now that you know, this is my life_

 _I won't be told what's supposed to be right_

 _Catch my breath_

 _Catch my breath, no one can hold me back, I ain't got time for that_

 _Catch my breath, won't let them get me down, it's all so simple now_

 _It's all so simple now_

 _Catching my breath, letting it go,_

 _Turning my cheek for the sake of this show_

 _Now that you know, this is my life_

 _I won't be told what's supposed to be right_

 _Catch my breath, no one can hold me back, I ain't got time for that_

 _Catch my breath, won't let them get me down, it's all so simple now."_

Chise let the last note leave her lips, then collapsed to the ground, breathing hard.

"Chise!" Elias said, stepping forward…

...just as Chise felt herself getting pulled into a hug.

"My, my, someone's grown up big, hasn't she?"

Chise looked up to see…

"Lilac," Chise said weakly, suddenly feeling really tired.

Lilac smiled, then looked at the others, glaring. "And just who the hell are you guys?" She noticed Titania and Oberon, then stood up, moving between them and Chise. "Oh, I see. Titania. Oberon. Long time no see-too bad it hasn't been long enough."

"What?" Alice asked.

A smirk played at Titania's lips. "Well, well, after thousands of years, we've finally found you, Lilac. Or should I call you by your real name?

"Promise, the Traitorous Fae."

 **And that's it for this chapter! What did you think?**

 **Did it surprise you that Lilac is actually a traitor? What did she do? Well, I guess that you'll just have to wait for the next chapter to see.**

 **Until next time!**

 **Lunetheart out.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hello, and I'm back with another chapter of Not her first Auction.**

 **I don't own Ancient Magus Bride.**

 **Enjoy!**

"Huh?" Chise asked, looking up at Lilac. Chise slowly moved so she was sitting.

Lilac scowled at Titania and Oberon. "You two aren't supposed to be around _my_ clients." She got into a fighting position. "You should know that _perfectly_ well."

"Your client?" Oberon asked, clearly confused.

"I didn't call you here for a fight," Chise said.

"Are you serious!?" Lilac asked, looking back at her. "Then why _did_ you call me here?! You weren't supposed to do that unless you _really_ needed me."

"Exactly," Chise said, slowly standing up. "I need you."

"For?" Lilac asked, raising an eyebrow, and that's when she noticed Chise's arms. She gasped, her eyes wide as she completely turned away from the others. "What in the hell _happened_ to you?! Does Opal know?!"

"I haven't talked to Opal in _years_ ," Chise said.

"You haven't?!" Lilac exclaimed, seemingly forgetting about the others. "Then who have you been staying with?! Opal was the one that bought you, right?"

"She sold me back to the auction house a year later," Chise said, clutching her cursed arm. "After that...this happened. Well, my arm wasn't until recently, but the scars, I mean."

Lilac's eyes grew even wider as she put her hands on Chise's shoulders. "Who did this to you?! And Opal sold you back?! Why would she do that?! I know that you've been keeping up your end of the bargain, but technically I haven't been holding _mine_! You should've called me sooner-wait, or shouldn't've called me at all-argh, this is so confusing! Why'd you call me if I'm not here to fight?!"

"Easy," Chise said. "I...I want to make a new deal."

"Chise, this Fae cannot be trusted," Titania said.

"A new deal?" Lilac asked. "When I broke my end of the bargain?"

Chise nodded. "A new deal-brand new, nothing to do with the last one. Well, two deals, really."

"Two, huh?" Lilac asked, clearly excited, then she looked disappointed. "But I didn't hold my last part of the bargain-and you've done it perfectly well."

"You cannot make a deal!" Titania said. "Promise, surrender _now_ , and Chise, come over here-it's time to head home-"

"No!" Lilac snapped, glaring at her. "Go away! All of you! This has nothing to do with you!" She turned back to Chise, then held a hand out to her. "Probably best to head away because of these annoying people."

"Chise-" Elias started.

"I'm not the only one here to make a deal," Chise said.

"You're not?" Lilac asked, raising an eyebrow. She looked at the others, confused. "Who else is?"

Joseph walked over, still wrapped up in the cloak. "I am."

Lilac looked at Chise, who nodded.

"Who're you?" Angela demanded.

"Cartaphilus," Elias snarled.

"It's _Joseph_ ," Joseph said, taking his hood off and standing behind Lilac.

Lilac nodded at the two of them, then turned back to the others. "Now, Titania, Oberon, you others that I don't know. We'd best be taking our leave-and as you should know, you aren't supposed to mess with my deals."

"And _you_ aren't supposed to even be _near_ sleigh beggies," Titania said.

"Deals overpower that," Lilac said, then turned to Chise and Joseph. "Come on. Let's get going." She began to walk away. After a few seconds, Chise and Joseph began to follow.

"NO!" Elias said, jumping forward. He grabbed onto Chise's cursed arm, making her wince-a little in pain, a little in fear, a little from the flashback.

Lilac looked back, anger in her eyes. A sword seemed to appear in her hand, and she slashed at Elias's hand, causing it to start bleeding. He drew away as Lilac grabbed Chise, pushing her behind her.

"Stay away from her," Lilac growled, then reached out and touched both Joseph and Chise. "You know what, I'm getting us out of here _now_." And, with a _poof_ , they disappeared.

Elias stared at where they had been, then at his hand, then turned to Titania and Oberon, who looked angry. "Exactly who _was_ that?"

"A traitorous Fae?" Angela asked. "Never heard about that."

Oberon looked at her. "It's kept _very_ quiet, see. That was Promise, and years ago, she betrayed all of our kind."

"What did she do?" Ruth asked.

"And why was she supposed to stay away from sleigh beggies?" Alice asked. "Is Chise in danger?"

"Without a doubt," Titania said. "And the reason she's supposed to stay away from sleigh beggies...is because she's the reason that they lead such short lives."

"What do you mean?" Elias asked.

"It's called the Sleigh Beggy Curse," Oberon explained. "Because, many years ago...about the time that Cartaphilus first appeared, I want to say, maybe even prior, Promise made a deal with someone. A promise that made it hard for any sleigh beggy to live for terribly long."

"And, in return, she took the humanity and mortality of two humans," Titania said. "Such a cruel Fae."

"Is she going to try to do the same to Chise?!" Ruth nearly yelled.

"That's what we need to stop-we aren't sure what her motives are," Oberon said. "She's always been fickle, appearing every now and then to cause trouble. She's willing to cause famine and destruction, but at the same time, she's helped rebuild entire nations in the past for seemingly no reason."

"Cruel, fickle, and powerful," Titania said. "Three things that should never mix. Enough talking. Tracking Chise should be easy enough-from there, we'll have to take down Promise and Joseph-killing three birds with a single stone, essentially."

"Although no actual death," Oberon said.

"Probably," Titania said. "But enough on that. Let's get going." She looked at the nearby Fae, who hadn't left out of curiosity. "Shame on you for helping to summon such a Fae."

"Little Robin asked us to help her-how could we refuse?" one of the Fae asked.

Titania sighed. "Of course. But why she would summon Promise for a deal is...troublesome. What kind of deal did she even make?"

"Let's just focus on finding her for now," Renfred said. "We can ask her later."

Titania looked at him and nodded. "Of course." She turned back to the Fae. "You have gone against me-I will only forgive you if you help us track Chise's magic," Titania said.

"Yes, my Queen," one of the Fae said.

 **And that's it for this chapter! What did you think?**

 **I should update before too long-and were you surprised that Lilac-well, Promise-was the one that made it so sleigh beggies couldn't live as long? And who's humanity and mortality did she take? I guess that we'll have to learn before too long, won't we?**

 **Well, until next time!**

 **Lunetheart out.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hello, and I'm back with another chapter of Not her first Auction.**

 **I don't own Ancient Magus Bride.**

 **Enjoy!**

Chise, Joseph, and Lilac appeared in a _very_ familiar place.

Chise gave Lilac an odd look. "Have you really been staying here this whole time?"

Lilac grinned at her. "Well, on and off, but recently, yes."

Chise turned and looked back at the place they were standing in front of.

Eden's old castle-home, but it was covered in vines and ivy.

"Nobody's lived here since Eden...died," Lilac said. "So, as you can probably guess, nobody was taking care of the exterior. I would, but then again, it makes people stay away, so I'm free to live here for as long as I need-perfect for hiding in." She began to walk inside. "Come on."

They followed her.

"So, why aren't you supposed to be near sleigh beggies?" Chise asked.

Lilac sighed. "Well, actually, it's because of a past deal-it's why I'm also considered the traitorous Fae."

"What did you do?" Joseph asked.

"I never refuse a deal," Lilac said. "If there's one rule I have, it's that. I've been on the bad side of Titania and Oberon for as long as anyone can remember because I've made deals that have nearly killed people-and a few that have."

"You've killed people?" Chise asked, her eyes wide.

"I never refuse a deal," Lilac said as they entered the castle. "In the past, I've made deals that have killed one or two of Titania's human lovers, so about two thousand years ago, I was already on her bad side, and I was hiding while she cooled down." She opened a set of doors, ushering Joseph and Chise into a small room with a fireplace-there was a fire burning. They all sat down. "Are you sure you want me to continue the story?"

Joseph and Chise nodded.

"Well, alright," Lilac said. "So, I was in hiding to make sure I avoided Titania. One day, two people stumbled upon my hiding place. God had cursed one of them to rot for eternity, and the other was his brother. The one rotting forever...was Cartaphilus, for throwing a stone at the son of God."

"Wait, I thought Cartaphilus was cursed to _live_ forever," Chise said.

"That's what I heard, too," Joseph said. "Are you sure that you have your facts straight?"

"Of course I do," Lilac said. "For God did not curse him to necessarily live forever-he promised forgiveness if Cartaphilus would repent for his sins, but he refused-and his brother wanted to find someone that would be powerful enough to reverse his curse-or make a new one in place. So, they began to travel around the world, and that's how they ended up stumbling upon me. I shouldn't've made a deal with them, but they begged for me to."

"What was the deal?" Joseph asked.

"They told me that it wasn't Cartaphilus that threw the stone-however, he was blamed for it," Lilac said. "They told me that if I couldn't reverse the curse, which I told them that I couldn't since I can't overpower a curse from God, then they wanted revenge on that person."

"Who was it?" Joseph asked.

"Well...that was the tricky part," Lilac said. "And it's why I'm considered the Traitorous Fae. The one that they claimed had thrown the stone at God's son was loved by all Fae-I had never met him before, but I had heard of him, and I knew that, should he have asked me for my help, I would have had no choice but to obey. I cannot remember his name-after all, it's been over two thousand years now-but I told them that I couldn't do it-at least, I didn't want to, but I would be willing to do _something_...but only for an incredibly large price. They offered to get me as much money as I wished-they said that they were willing to rob Kings and Queens in order to get revenge if that's what it took. I told them that I was a Fae-I had no use for money of any kind. I was going to suggest that, instead, Cartaphilus would have to repent-even if falsely-in order for me to do something small to this man, but that's when Cartaphilus's brother asked me to just take their mortality...and their humanity."

Chise and Joseph gasped.

"Now, that was no small fee to pay," Lilac said. "If I took that from them, them-from _both_ of them-then I could perform an _enormous_ act of revenge against this man-even if I didn't want to, but I'm a Fae that makes deals-for a deal, I am willing to do absolutely _anything_ -and for something like that to be offered? It would be the biggest deal that I'd ever make-it still is." She sighed. "I should have refused the offer. I really should have. Told them that it would be the one offer I couldn't take. But to take humanity _and_ mortality of not one but _two_ people, in exchange for an act of revenge-righting a wrong? I asked them what they wanted me to do to the man. They looked at each other, then turned back to me...and told me something that would change the Fae world forever."

"What did you do?" Chise asked.

Lilac took a deep breath. "They asked me to curse him and his descendants that the Fae loved to live short lives-lives that would grow shorter and shorter as time went on. It was a cruel punishment, but they insisted that he deserved it."

"He was a sleigh beggy, wasn't he?" Chise asked quietly.

Lilac paused, then nodded. "The first sleigh beggy to exist, which is why everything went wrong. I took the humanity and mortality of them both. They were sent to different places in the world, places where they would never be able to find each other ever again-a little bit showing my hatred of the deal. And, with that, I flew to find the man...and I cursed him and his descendants, as part of my deal."

Joseph and Chise gasped.

"I should have gone with my instinct and not done it," Lilac said. "I should've just given up, brought the two back and told them to make me do something else- _anything_ else. I should've attempted to take away Cartaphilus's curse-I never should have taken the brother's humanity and mortality. But I couldn't bring myself to go back on my word. So, I cast the curse. Titania and Oberon found me a little while later, and they told me that should I ever go near another sleigh beggy, I would receive divine punishment-and I was lucky that they didn't just kill me right there and then. So, I turned to them...and told them that if they wanted me to do that, they would have to make a deal with me."

"So, right after making _that_ deal, you made another?" Joseph asked.

"I know, I was an idiot," Lilac said. "But I thrive on deals-I don't do favors, otherwise my name would be different. They told me that I had to stay away from sleigh beggies-I told them that deals are over everything for me-as they always are. So, with that, we eventually came to a deal-I would stay away from sleigh beggies unless I had a deal that made it so I had to be by one, but should I personally bring harm to that sleigh beggy, then I would receive divine punishment."

"What do you mean by divine punishment?" Chise asked.

Lilac shrugged. "My guess is that it means killing me, honestly-I don't know what those two mean half the time. But you get my point." She looked at Joseph. "I sense that you're Cartaphilus-at least, in a way."

"My name is Joseph," Joseph said. "But yes, he is part of me."

"So in front of me, I have two people that were affected by that deal," Lilac asked. "And Joseph, I'm going to take a guess and say that you want me to reverse that deal?"

"Yes," Joseph said, then looked at Chise. "It would get us both to the point we want next, wouldn't it?"

Chise nodded, then turned to Lilac. "How much would it take for you to reverse that deal?"

"It's a rather pricey deal," Lilac said. "A large one, too. It won't be without a large fee-let's see if you're able to pay."

"As long as it's not with my life, I'm fine with whatever you want me to do," Chise said.

Lilac thought for a few seconds. "Then how about this? Chise, I will take part of our last deal and add it with this so you don't have to pay as much this time, ok?"

"Are you sure?" Chise asked.

"Positive," Lilac said. "After all, I've let you down all this time-might as well count all of your singing for something."

"Singing?" Joseph asked.

Chise looked at him. "I sing and dance once a month as part of our old deal." She looked at Lilac. "What else do you want me to do?"

"And me, too," Joseph said.

Lilac looked back and forth between the two of them. "Well...if you truly _are_ also Cartaphilus, Joseph...then I want you to apologize to God. Ask him to remove the curse. Also, I want some of your hair."

"My hair?" Joseph asked, raising an eyebrow. "I mean, I understand apologizing, but why my hair?"

"It's a usual thing for me to ask for," Lilac said.

"Ok, then," Joseph said. "Is there anything else you want me to do?"

"Three months," Lilac said.

"Huh?" Joseph asked.

"For three months, I want you to do the same as Chise has been doing-singing and dancing once a month for the Fae," Lilac said. "Three songs each month-a total of nine songs, but not all at once for reasons."

"That seems a small price," Joseph said.

"You'll understand why it's actually a large price to pay after the first month," Lilac said. "Also, apologizing to God is most of your price-after all, he _does_ have a temper at times, which is why he cursed Cartaphilus in the first place."

"Oh," Joseph said. "Then I'll do it."

Lilac smiled, then turned to Chise. "As for you...you've been singing and dancing needlessly for the past...what, nine years?"

"Technically, eight," Chise said.

"Still, that's a really long time," Lilac said. "So, I ask of you...some more of your hair, as well as for you to sing and dance for another two years."

"Why does she have longer?" Joseph asked.

"Added into this, I will also dull the curse on your arm, as well as heal your scars," Lilac said. "Granted, I also want you to give me the story of what happened."

"Ok," Chise said.

"Not now, though-later, after I hold up my end of the bargain," Lilac said.

"Got it," Chise said.

Lilac smiled, then looked at the door to the room. "The front room here should be big enough for this-I'm going to ask both of you to uphold your parts of the bargain later." She stood up-Chise and Joseph did as well. "Come on-this should be fun." She walked back into the front room, and Chise and Joseph followed her.

 **And that's it for this chapter! What did you think?**

 **Time to remove the curses-but does something seem a little off about what's going on? Are Titania, Oberon, Elias, Ruth, Renfred, Alice, and Angela going to appear soon? It shouldn't be long now before all is revealed!**

 **Anyway, until next time!**

 **Lunetheart out.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hello, and I'm back with another chapter of Not her first Auction.**

 **I don't own Ancient Magus Bride.**

 **Enjoy!**

Elias, Ruth, and all of them landed near an old castle, and they all looked around.

"Where...are we?" Alice asked.

Angela gasped, her eyes wide as she looked at the castle. "No way!"

"What?" Renfred asked, giving her a confused look. "Do you know where we are?"

"That's Eden Dumont's castle," Angela said.

"Who?" Alice asked.

"Are you certain?" Elias asked.

"Who's Eden Dumont?" Alice asked.

"He was a powerful mage until he died...nine years ago now, I think," Elias said. "And...he was apparently the first person to buy Chise at the auction house."

They all gasped.

"Really?!" Alice asked.

"Well, what a way to say that out of the blue," Angela said. "So Promise is hiding here with Chise? But why did she chose _this_ place?"

"That's a good question-with Chise, it's apparently understandable, but nothing about this seems to have anything to do with Promise," Titania said. "We'll have to ask her when we get her." She began to float over to the castle. Everyone followed.

 **Inside the castle…**

"And...there!" Lilac said, looking at her work. She had cleared everything-including the carpet-out of the front room, stuffing it into the small side room. Once she had done that, she had drawn a large circle, as well as three smaller circles in that. She turned to Chise and Joseph, who were sitting on the staircase. "Alright, now you two stand in those two circles."

The two stood up and stood in the circles she was gesturing to. Lilac stood in the third, then took out a knife. She made a cut across her hand, then held it out, letting some blood drop to the floor.

"With this blood, I call upon the forces of nature themselves," Lilac said, her voice mysterious and strange sounding. "I ask of these forces of nature, lift the curses cast upon the individuals standing inside these circles. Three curses to lift, blood shed for that purpose." She closed her eyes as the air around them started to stir, and Chise felt a strange pressure on her back, almost trying to force her down, but she stayed standing. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Joseph struggling to stand as well. "Two of these curses have been ongoing for over two thousand years-break these ancient chains that bind their fates!"

Just then, the doors burst open, and Titania and Oberon, as well as the others, walked in. Chise and Joseph looked at them, but Lilac was too caught up in the spell to even seem to notice.

"Break these ancient chains that bind their fates!" Lilac repeated, and the air started to swirl faster.

"Promise, you Traitorous Fae!" Titania yelled over the wind. "Stop this right now!"

Lilac looked at her, but didn't stop. "Break these ancient chains that bind their fates!"

Suddenly, Chise fell to the floor, gasping for breath.

"CHISE!" the others yelled.

"Known as the curse of the Sleigh Beggies, you are no longer welcome to inhabit this body!" Lilac yelled, holding her hand out towards Chise. "Expel!"

A strange black-purple mist-like substance came off Chise's back, swirling in the air.

"Come to me!" Lilac yelled, holding her hand out to the mist, which swirled around for a few seconds, then went to her hand, disappearing. Then, she held her hand out to Joseph. "Curse of immortality, for your mortality has been taken away from you-your humanity taken along with it! You are no longer allowed to inhabit this body! Expel!"

Joseph fell to the ground, gasping for breath as a green mist-like substance came off his back.

"Come to me!" Lilac yelled again, and the mist disappeared in her hand. She slashed her hand through the air, then held it above her. "Heavens above, take these curses cast upon these two by the foolishness of their elders!" The purple and green mists came out of her hand, seeming to be intertwined. They swirled up into the air, then disappeared, along with the wind.

Elias and Ruth started to step forward, but Lilac turned to Chise, who was starting to get up. Lilac held her hand out again.

"Curse number three-the dragon's curse!" Lilac said. "You are no longer allowed in this body-begone!"

Chise's cursed arm turned gray, and it seemed to start to fall apart, revealing her actual arm...which was stained black, strangely. The pieces of her "arm" disappeared as soon as they fell to the ground.

Lilac lowered her hand. "Three curses, all gone." She let out a deep breath. "Well, now that that's over...oh, wait! I forgot something!"

"That's _enough_ , Lilac," Titania growled.

Lilac looked at her. "Well, well, you know better than to mess with my bargains." She turned back to Chise. "And, in accordance with my end of the bargain…" She stepped out of her circle and kneeled down next to Chise. She put a hand on her back, then began to hum a strange melody.

After about ten seconds, all of Chise's scars disappeared. Lilac stood up, then held a hand out to Chise and her other to Joseph. They both took her hands, then she helped them stand up.

"And, as promised," Lilac said, then handed the knife to Chise.

"Hey, what are you-" Elias started, then Chise cut off some of her hair, handing it to Lilac, then the knife to Joseph, who cut off most of his hair and handed it and the knife to Lilac.

Lilac smiled as the hair and the knife disappeared. "Alright!"

"What's going on?" Elias asked.

Chise looked at him. "Well...um…"

"Chise, step away from those two," Titania said.

"But-" Chise started.

"She's the one that made it so sleigh beggies are likely to die early!" Titania nearly yelled, clearly impatient. "Aren't you afraid of her?!"

"Of course I'm not," Chise said, carefully drawing out her wand.

"Did you already know about that?!" Alice asked.

"She's not as bad as you guys think she is!" Chise said.

"And where's your proof-she's a traitor to Fae!" Angela said.

"You only know half of the story!" Chise said.

"And you know anymore than we do?" Oberon asked. "I'm sure that you only know _her_ half of the story-but can you say that it's accurate?"

Chise straightened her back, lowering her wand. "She's shown me more kindness than most people that I've ever _met_ -not just because I'm a sleigh beggy, like most Fae do, but instead, she was one of the first to make me believe in myself as a _person_." She took a deep breath. "So, here's what I'm going to say. You need to sit down and listen to each other's sides of the story. Got that?"

"But where's the fun in that?" Oberon asked.

"This is not an argument that can be resolved by listening to each other!" Titania said.

"And why's that?" Chise asked.

"Because it's been going on for too long," Lilac said, then stepped forward. "You wanna fight over this, Titania?"

"No fighting!" Chise said.

"Gladly," Titania said.

Everyone stepped back, but instead, Chise stepped into the space between the two Fae.

"No. Fighting!" Chise said. "At least _listen_ to each other!"

"Get out of the way, Chise," Lilac said.

"Well, it looks like there's a single thing that we can agree on," Titania said.

"Please!" Chise said, looking back and forth between the two.

"Get out of the way!" Titania said angrily, looking ready to shoot magic at Chise.

"Not until you calm down enough to talk this out!" Chise said. "You don't have to fight!"

"There's no choice now," Lilac said, getting ready to fight.

"Get out of the way, little Robin, or you're gonna get hurt," Oberon said warningly.

She glared at him. "Do I _look_ like I care!?"

Elias stepped forward and picked Chise up, hurrying back over to the sidelines as chise struggled to get away.

"Let me go!" Chise said.

"Please, stop," Elias said as Titania shot magic at Lilac, who put up a quick shield, absorbing the attack.

"Stop fighting!" Chise yelled, hitting Elias's arm. "Let me _go_!"

In response, Elias just held her tighter as the fight between the two Fae continued.

 **And that's it for this chapter! What did you think?**

 **I'm not really good at writing fight scenes-I mean, I'll probably try for the next chapter to write the fight, but at the same time, I might not. I guess that you'll have to see!**

 **Until next time!**

 **Lunetheart out.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Hello, and I'm back with another chapter of Not her first Auction.**

 **I'm going to try to write the fight-warning, I'm really bad with writing them, so sorry in advance if it sucks.**

 **I don't own Ancient Magus Bride.**

 **Enjoy!**

Lilac blocked a second magic attack from Titania, then shot magic of her own.

Titania blocked the magic, reflecting it upward...causing it to hit the ceiling, and some of it fell down.

"Hey, careful!" Lilac snapped, then lunged at Titania, kicking her in the stomach, causing Titania to fly back a few feet.

"Why should I?" Titania snapped, creating a sword and swinging at Lilac, who created a new shield, blocking the attack just in time.

"Because-this is MY HOME!" Lilac yelled, grabbing Titania's sword and pulling it out of her hands, throwing it to the side. "How would you like it if I destroyed yours?!"

Titania jumped back, then created a large wave of water, sending it at Liliac, who created a bunch of fire, evaporating the water quickly and sending the fire at Titania, who dodged, then blew a gust of wind, blowing the fire out.

"You have to stop!" Chise yelled, and, for a millisecond, Lilac paused, wondering if she was right.

 _I don't really want to fight Titania, do I? But she wouldn't listen to me no matter what, and she's trying to destroy Eden's Castle. Making a deal with her won't work this time around._

Lilac mentally shook her head, pushing away those thoughts. _I have to fight her. To save Eden's Castle, if I can't find any better reason._

Titania directed the wind at Lilac, who blew her own wind in Titania's direction, causing the two winds to clash, then they blew upward…

...causing the roof to cave in a little more.

Titania dove out of the way of the falling ceiling, but Lilac put up a magic barrier, trying to stop as much of the ceiling from shattering against the ground as possible.

Titania got to her feet, then shot another shot, but this time, she didn't aim at Lilac.

She aimed at the staircase.

Lilac created a shield in front of the staircase, stopping the blast…

...or, at least, that's what she was trying to do.

The second before the blast hit the shield, it turned, aiming directly at Lilac, who dropped the shield and placed it in front of her, absorbing the magic.

"Did you think that I couldn't protect more than one thing at once?" Lilac yelled, dropping her shield. "Because I will protect as much as I can-and I will _still_ take you down!"

"Please, no more fighting!" Chise yelled, then managed to force Elias's arms apart-but before he could grab onto her, she ran between the two fighting Fae…

...just as Titania shot another blast at Lilac, causing Chise to take the hit instead, sending her flying back into a wall.

"CHISE!" Elias yelled, running over.

Lilac and Titania exchanged a look, then ran over-everyone else did as well.

"Why did you _do_ that?!" Lilac exclaimed, reaching for Chise, but Elias held her close, almost as if to hide her from Lilac, who glared at him, then looked back at Chise. "You shouldn't've taken that hit!"

"Stop...fighting," Chise muttered, then coughed up a little blood. At the same time, Ruth coughed a little, too. Lilac gave him an odd look, then looked back and forth between him and Chise.

"Wait, is that guy your familiar?" Lilac asked, but it seemed like Chise was unconscious. She looked at Ruth. "Are you her familiar?"

Ruth nodded.

"Huh," Lilac said. "So she ended up becoming a mage apprentice after all."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Elias asked.

"Whatever," Lilac said. "Look, I don't know who most of you are-and Titania, Oberon, I don't like either of you-but I think that it's best if you all leave-and leave Chise here."

"No," Elias said.

"She just got knocked out," Lilac said, crossing her arms. "It's best if she stays in one of the rooms upstairs."

"Then we will stay with her," Elias said. "Or bring her back with us."

Lilac sighed. "You know what, whatever, then. You can all stay here." She glared at Titania and Oberon. "Against my better judgement, you guys can stay, too. I won't fight anymore. Be mad at me all you want, but I haven't broken my end of the deal."

"I still hate you," Titania said.

"The feeling's mutual," Lilac snapped, then looked at Elias. "So you don't want to put her down or leave her-alright, then. Then you can at _least_ bring her upstairs so she can sleep-I'll show you the way if you want."

"Alright," Elias said, standing up, carefully holding Chise.

Lilac looked at Ruth. "I'm going to guess that you have a different form?"

Ruth nodded, then shifted into his dog form.

"Church Grim, huh?" Lilac asked, then shook her head. "I don't think that I even want to know." She began to walk towards the staircase. After a few seconds, she turned to look at Elias and Ruth. "Well?" She looked at the others. "Oh, and I'll be back down in a minute, so you guys can just wait here, alright?" She continued to walk. Elias and Ruth followed her.

 **And that's the end of this chapter! What did you think?**

 **I should be updating before too long.**

 **Until next time!**

 **Lunetheart out.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Hello, and I'm back with another chapter of Not her first Auction.**

 **I think that this might be one of the last chapters-but at the same time, I might be wrong. I'm not completely sure at this point.**

 **Anyway, I don't own Ancient Magus Bride.**

 **Enjoy!**

After being asleep for a while, Chise groaned, slowly opening her eyes. Her back hurt and her throat was sore, but other than that, she felt fine.

"Ah, you're awake."

Chise turned her head to see…

"Elias?" she muttered.

Elias put a hand on her forehead. "You feeling alright?"

"I'm fine," she said. "A little sore, but that's it."

"Well, next time, don't run into a fight against Titania and...well...anyone," Elias said. "It was very foolish of you to do that. As well as foolish to run off in the first place-you had us all worried, you know."

"Sorry," Chise said.

"Just don't worry us like that again," Ruth said, appearing next to Elias.

Chise gave a nervous laugh. "Well, no promises."

"Hey, that's my line!"

They all turned to see Lilac walk into the room, followed by Alice, Renfred, Angela, Titania, and Oberon.

"You're awake!" Lilac said happily.

Chise nodded. "Just woke up."

Lilac walked over and gave Chise a hug, then pulled back…

...and shook her _really_ fast.

"You idiot!" Lilac said. "You jumped into a fight between me and Titania-you're lucky that you weren't killed! Did you want to go meet Eden so bad?! You couldn't've have, otherwise you wouldn't have summoned me and asked me to lift your curse!"

Titania cleared her throat. "While on that topic." They all looked at her. "I have a question about what happened."

"Oh, let me guess, time to share our sides of the story," Lilac said.

"You guys haven't done that yet?" Chise asked, raising an eyebrow.

Lilac looked at her. "Well, I _would_ have, but _someone_ insisted that you hear both sides as well as share your story about all the scars." She glared at Titania.

"Well, she has every right to know, and I am rather curious," Titania said.

Lilac sighed. "Fine, fine." She sat on the edge of the bed Chise was in. Alice and Ruth did as well, while the others pulled up some chairs from the room-Elias had already been sitting in a chair. Joseph just leaned against a nearby wall-it looked like he was trying to keep his distance from the others, but he seemed interested in the story as well.

"Ok, who wants to go first?" Lilac asked.

"I'll go last," Chise said.

"Fair enough," Lilac said. "So, I guess I'll go first!" She smiled. "So, two thousand years ago. That's when this story starts, correct?"

"Agreed," Titania said.

"Ok," Lilac said. "So. Two thousand years ago. I was in hiding 'cause I had made a deal where I had killed one of Titania's human lovers."

"You say that so casually," Angela said.

"She's killed _plenty_ in the past," Titania muttered.

"That's not the point right now," Lilac said. "The point is, I was in hiding. Well, these two people stumbled upon my hiding place. One of them was cursed for throwing a stone at the son of God-he was cursed to rot for all eternity."

"Wait, that sounds like...Cartaphilus, but I thought he was cursed to _live_ forever," Renfred said.

"Now, now, _that's_ coming," Lilac said. "So, he and his brother-"

"He had a _brother_?" Alice asked.

Lilac sighed. "Yes, he had a brother with him. They were traveling around, trying to find someone powerful enough to lift God's curse, 'cause Cartaphilus didn't want to have to apologize to God because he blamed it on someone else-more on that in a moment. They found me and asked if I could make a deal to lift it. Well, I never refuse a deal- _never_. Even if I really should. Anyway. I told them that I could probably just slow it down for about ten years, but I couldn't stop the rotting. So, instead, they asked if I could get revenge on the guy that _actually_ threw the stone-they said it was a man that all the Fae love-he's known as the first sleigh beggy."

"Wait, seriously?" Ruth asked, "they accused the first sleigh baggy of throwing a stone at the son of God...and accusing Cartaphilus of doing it?"

Lilac shrugged. "Reasons are reasons. I'm willing to make _any_ kind of deal. I would have done a small act or revenge-personally wanted to turn him into a cat for a few days in exchange for something small-but the brother told me that they would be laying with their humanity...and mortality."

They all gasped.

"They were willing to give up their _humanity and mortality_ for revenge?! Renfred exclaimed.

"That's messed up!" Alice said.

"I believe that they didn't fully understand the consequences, but still," Lilac said. "That was enough for a HUGE act of revenge-I couldn't say no. I asked them what they wanted me to do...and they told me that they wanted me to curse him and his descendants that the Fae also loved. So, I took their fees, and sent them across the world, then I went to the sleigh buggy and cast the curse. And I became the Traitorous Fae." She looked at Titania. "Well? Your turn."

"Well, two thousand years ago, as Lilac said, she _was_ in hiding for killing one or two of my lovers," Titania said, glaring at Lilac, who shrugged. "Anyway. One day, out of the blue, she came along and cursed the first sleigh beggy." She shrugged. "None of us would _ever_ bring any kind of harm to _any_ sleigh beggy-even with a reason like yours, it's not alright to do something like that. You should have just refused the bargain, Promise."

Lilac rolled her eyes. "Making bargains for me is like you ruling the Fae-we all have something that we do, even if we make poor decisions."

"Name _one_ that I've made," Titania said.

"Oh, I can name _plenty_ ," Lilac said.

"Seriously, why are you two so against each other?" Ruth asked. "I mean, Promise-"

"Lilac," Lilac corrected.

"Huh?" Ruth asked.

"I don't go by Promise anymore-the name I was given was Lilac, and while Promise is my real name, I go by Lilac," Lilac explained.

"Name you were given?" Oberon asked. "By who?"

Lilac looked at him. "Well, by Eden Dumont, of course."

"Wait, you knew him?" Angela asked.

"Of course I knew him," Lilac said. "I was his stand-in familiar, after all."

"HIS FAMILIAR!?" they all exclaimed.

"What do you mean, 'stand-in'?" Alice asked a few seconds later, raising an eyebrow. "I didn't know that was a thing."

"It's not," Titania said. "Please explain, Lilac."

"Well, Eden once had a familiar-an Ariel, I believe," Lilac said. "I've personally never met her, so I don't know most of the details. Well, something...happened-as part of our agreement, I never asked, and only got a few vague detail about what happened. He told me that he didn't want to have a new familiar, but he was afraid that e would stumble upon a new Fae and end up feeling so lonely that he would take up a new familiar. So, he asked me to pretend to be his familiar. In exchange, I got a safe place to stay, as well as the opportunity to make as many bargains with the people he knew as I wanted-as long as they agreed, of course. And so, I pretended to be his familiar up until he died."

"I see," Titania said. "And how did that happen?"

Lilac thought for a few seconds, then something seemed to click in her head. "Oh, wait! I just remembered!" She looked at Chise. "I was going to tell you about that, wasn't I?"

"Were you?" Chise asked.

"Come on, you can't say that you haven't read that letter I wrote for you!" Lilac said. "In the end, I told you to bug me about what happened to Eden. You got that letter, right?"

Slowly, Chise nodded. "But I forgot about that part, honestly."

"Well, so it's probably time to bring it up," Lilac said.

"Wait," Renfred said. "First, maybe we should know how Chise ended up living here, first."

They all looked at Chise, who sighed.

"Well, then, I should probably start before the whole deal with the auction house," Chise said. "I used to live in Japan with my family-my mom, dad, and little brother. We were constantly getting attacked by what mom called the 'bad ones,' which I guess means Fae that were trying to kill us, since nobody else saw them. Well, Dad would protect us, and everything would be fine...that is, until he and my little brother went out one night...and they never came back. We never heard from them again, either. Well, Mom started to try to work, but she wasn't very strong and had never really had a job for quite a long time, so she kept getting fired, time and time again. One day, it all became too much, and she snapped."

"What do you mean?" Oberon asked.

"She tried to kill me," Chise said.

"WHAT?!"

"She tried to choke me, then let me go and jumped out the window," Chise said.

"How can you say that so casually?!" Alice exclaimed.

"It happened years ago-at this point, though, much worse has happened to me-but I don't want to explain until we finish Lilac's part of the story," Chise said.

"So, as you can probably guess, after that, she was brought to the auction house and sold to Eden," Lilac said.

Chise looked at her and nodded. "I was told that I would find a forever home if I was sold at the auction." With that comment, she looked at Elias and Ruth with a smile. "And I guess that I kind of have."

"Awesome!" Lilac said happily. "So, I guess that it's time for what happened to Eden!" She took a deep breath, and her tone became more serious. "It started about a half year after he bought you, Chise-ok, well, it technically started around the time that _I_ first met him, really. He had once been in a strange group of mages that had been trying to find sleigh beggies in order to try to find plenty of Fae, as well as try to find more potential mages. They wanted to find Fae for the reason of having familiars for potential mages. At least, I think that's what it was about. He decided to leave the group-and after that, he found you, Chise. Well, half a year after he bought you, some of those people from the group came to the door, demanding that he hand you over to them. He refused, and asked me to send them away. I did, but they came back often, demanding over and over again, but never while you were awake-and once or twice while you were at school. So basically, never while you were there. At one point, they called him and said that he either hand you over, or fight with them over it-to the death."

They all gasped, and Chise's eyes grew wide.

"When he disappeared that night...it was all my fault," Chise whispered, tears in her eyes.

Lilac sighed. "As if. It's not your fault whatsoever, got that?"

"But-" Chise started.

"It wasn't your fault!" Lilac said. "It was Eden's choice, one that he would have made regardless if it was you or someone else! Even if you had known, he wouldn't've changed his choice no matter what! Besides, if it was your fault, then it was mine, too! He told me to stay here instead of come with to help him! I could hardly argue with him, even! Trust me-it wasn't your fault in any way possible!"

Chise hunched her shoulders. "Still, though."

Lilac sighed, shaking her head. "Well, whatever. I've told my end of the story, and you've told up to when you met Eden. So spill. What else happened to you?"

"Well, after we made our deal, I went back to the auction house, where I was bought by Opal," Chise said. "I started my end of the deal then-singing and dancing once a month."

"So that's why you do it," Ruth said.

Chise looked at her and nodded. "Yep. But, after a year, Opal went bankrupt, and she had to sell me back to the auction house." She looked at Lilac. "After that...things got...really bad."

"What do you mean?" Lilac asked.

"Well, the third, fourth, fifth, six, and seventh buyers all decided to try to use me like a human battery-since I'm a sleigh beggy and all that," Chise said, looking at all of them. "I was still able to get out and hold up my end of the bargain each month-for the most part, that is." She looked at Lilac. "I would have summoned you, but it got complicated for a...variety of reasons. I don't think that I would've had the chance to summon you even if I had tried, honestly."

"Oh," Lilac said. "And...eight?"

"Eight was the same, except he decided that the energy was completely in...well...my blood," Chise said.

Lilac looked angry. "Say what?"

Chise scratched the back of her neck. "Yeah. At some point, he decided to try to fuse our blood so he'd be more powerful...he exploded." She shuttered. "It was _gross_ , and it gave me nightmares for a little while afterwards."

"If it didn't, then there's be something wrong," Renfred said.

"Yeah," Chise said, then hugged her knees to her chest. "And...number nine. Liam Junicia." She took a deep breath. "He had killed his own daughter, and in a panic, he bought me and told me to pretend to be her."

"Wait, he killed his own _daughter_!?" Alice exclaimed. "Who does that?!"

"Apparently, him," Chise said, then shuttered. "H-He didn't learn any lessons from what happened to his daughter, Teegan. He kept beating me up, over and over again-I missed tons of months of singing, to the point where I was worried that I wouldn't be able to summon you, Lilac."

Lilac looked angry. "I wouldn't've held it against you no matter what-but that bastard! Is he dead?"

"I have no idea," Chise said quietly, hugging her knees a little tighter. "T-Things got really bad at the last one...I-I wasn't even dancing yet when he caught me...dragged me back...started beating me up...and...and...and…" She hid her face in her knees, starting to cry a little. "He...he…I can't say it!"

Elias gently patted her back. "It's alright. It's alright."

Chise just cried.

"Are you ok?" Lilac asked quietly.

"What happened?" Ruth asked. "Stop blocking me and let me see."

"I...I can't," Chise muttered.

"Please?" Ruth asked. "If it bothers you that much, let me see and _I_ can say what happened. Unless you'd rather have nobody know?"

Chise hugged her knees even tighter, then opened up her connection to Ruth, letting him see the painful memory.

After a few seconds, Ruth yelped, jumping back.

"What the hell?!" Ruth yelled, slapping a hand over his mouth. "I think I'm gonna be sick!"

"What?" everyone asked.

"He...he...he _raped_ you?!" Ruth yelled.

Everyone yelled out something, looking at Chise, who just hugged her knees impossibly tighter, digging her nails into her legs.

Elias's eyes were practically glowing in anger. "How _dare_ someone do something so...so awful!"

"That's it-I'm gonna kill him, then bring him back from the dead just to kill him again!" Lilac declared.

"I'd argue that the dead need to be left alone, but as long as you let me help, do it!" Ruth said.

"After that, he was arrested, I got brought to the auction house again, and...well, that's when you bought me, Elias," Chise said quietly, then grabbed the blanket and pulled it over herself, shivering a little.

Lilac gently hugged Chise through the blanket, patting her on the back. "You're alright, right? It's going to be ok."

Chise just cried in response.

Everyone stayed silent as Chise cried, hiding under the blanket-nobody knew what to say.

After what seemed to be about a half hour, Chise stopped crying, and pulled the blanket off her head.

"A-And that's my story," Chise said quietly.

Lilac patted her on the head. "It's alright now, right? From the way you're talking, you've finally found a place where you belong, right?"

Chise nodded, smiling a little. "I-I guess that I have."

"Well, then," Lilac said, standing up. "I guess that it's about time for all of you to head home-"

"Not quite," Titania said.

They all looked at her.

"What do you mean?" Lilac asked.

"Easy," Titania said, standing up. "I would like to make another deal with you."

"Oh?" Lilac asked. "What kind of deal?"

"You said that you cursed the sleigh beggies in exchange for the humanity and mortality of two humans," Titania said. "You gave back the mortality-and technically humanity, I would say-of one of those two, as well as gave a sleigh beggy back time for her life. You've already given back part of that deal-and I would like for you to completely erase the curse you cast. On the brother, who I assume is still alive, and all other sleigh beggies."

"That's a rather large price to pay," Lilac said, clearly interested. "What are you willing to pay?"  
"I will give you back your position as a Fae...as well as your position in our family," Titania said.

"Wait, what do you mean 'our' family?" Alice asked.

"Oh, I see, I see!" Oberon said happily.

Lilac's eyes grew wide. "Y-You would really...do that?"

"Is it a large enough price to pay?" Titania asked.

"Wait, what?" Chise asked.

Oberon smiled at her. "Well, you see, Promise is not just any ordinary Fae-as you probably guessed, as she was able to go toe-to-toe with Titania and survive, as well as be able to counter her attacks. Did you really not notice? I mean, I understand that Promise doesn't look a thing like Titania-although I'm told that she looks similar to me, with a few of Titania's features…"

"Wait a second," Ruth said. "Are you saying that she's…"

"YOUR DAUGHTER?!"

"So?" Titania asked, almost seeming to ignore everyone else as she held her hand out to Lilac, who stared at her, surprised. "Are you willing to accept my offer?"

"You've been rejecting me as a daughter for as long as I can remember," Lilac whispered. "My entire life, because my magic wasn't what you two expected. A-Are you sure that I could…?" In that moment, she almost looked and sounded like a hopeful child.

Titania nodded. "But only if you reverse the curses you cast two thousand years ago."

Lilac stared at her for a few seconds, then nodded enthusiastically. "I'll do it! I'll do it!"

"Sweet!" Oberon said happily. "I'm going to guess that it won't be easy for the brother-"

"Oh, no, that's going to be the easiest part of all this!" Lilac said.

"But don't you have to find him first?" Alice asked.

Lilac beamed at her. "Well, I already know where the brother is! You'll all be surprised to know that he's in this very room right now!"

"Huh?" they all asked, looking around.

"Is he...a piece of furniture?" Ruth asked.

Lilac laughed, shaking her head. "No, no, not at all! I mean, sure, it was cruel when I took away his humanity and mortality, but I wasn't mean enough to take away his ability of thought and movement!"

"Then...it's one of us?" Renfred asked.

"I doubt _very_ highly that it's me," Joseph muttered.

Lilac looked at him. "Oh, definitely not. I would have had to alter your memories-although I did end up doing that for the brother when he found me a few centuries ago." She looked around the room. "Come on, can none of you seriously guess?"

They all looked at each other and, slowly but surely…

...all of them looked at…

...Elias.

"Huh?" Elias asked.

Lilac smiled. "You came to me and asked to erase your memories a few centuries ago, but I recognize you as clear as day.

" _You_ are Cartaphilus's faithful brother."

 **Dun dun dun! What did you think?**

 **Were you surprised that Elias was Cartaphilus's brother? How about Lilac being Titania and Oberon's daughter? I was going to make that reveal much more dramatic by stopping the chapter right after, but then I decided that it was best to just have these two facts in one chapter.**

 **Well, I should be updating before too long-I think that there will be two chapters after this, and the next one might be a little on the short side, but I guess that we'll see!**

 **Until next time!**

 **Lunetheart out.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Hello, and I'm back with another chapter of Not her first Auction.**

 **I don't own Ancient Magus Bride.**

 **Also, I'm pretty sure that this is the second to last chapter.**

 **Enjoy!**

"Alright, are you ready?" Lilac asked.

After the initial shock wore off about Elias, they had all gone downstairs, and Lilac had erased the circle from earlier and created a new one.

Elias nodded. "I guess."

"Ok," Lilac said, then looked over at the others, who were hiding behind a shield that Titania was creating.

"Why are we being protected like this?" Chise muttered.

"Well, you never know just how dangerous breaking deals can be," Titania said.

"Just what is she going to do?" Ruth asked.

"Good question," Oberon said. "I've never actually really seen one of her deals take place, to be honest. So anything could happen at this point."

"Literally anything?" Angela asked.

"Yep," Titania said.

"Oh," they all said.

"Well, I should probably get started," Lilac said, then closed her eyes for a few seconds. When she opened them again…

...they were golden.

"From the heavens above, a curse was cast upon this man two thousand years ago," Lilac said, her voice sounding incredibly strange. "Along with this curse, may the curse cast among all sleigh beggies be lifted as well!" A large circle of light appeared, following the lines of the circle that was around Elias, but a second circle seemed to circle the entire room. "Ruler of the heavens, lift the curse cast-grant him back his humanity and mortality, as well as his memories of all that came to pass!" She slashed her hand through the air. "Curse of immortality, taking along with mortality, humanity, and memories of times long past. Begone!" She slashed her hand back through the air. "Expel!"

The light seemed to go up into the air, ball up above Elias, then it fell down onto him, engulfing him in light for a few seconds, then it disappeared, revealing…

...a young-looking man, still wearing the same clothes as Elias had been, but they were smaller, and Elias-if it really _was_ him-didn't look _anything_ like what they had expected him to look like.

First off, his hair was a dull reddish-brown, and it made him look a little...shady, since it covered his eyes a little. He was barely taller than Chise, and he just looked...weird.

Lilac lowered her hand. "And...there! You're back to normal!"

Elias slowly raised his arms, looking at them, then he raised an eyebrow. "Um...I look...like I used to." His voice sounded a little hoarse, and it just overall sounded strange.

"So you remember everything?" Lilac asked.

Elias looked at her and nodded, then sighed. "Although...can I still shift forms? I've grown rather...used to it."

"Well, of course you can," Lilac said with a smile. "Try it!"

Elias closed his eyes, then he shifted back into his other form with the skull. "Ah, that's better."

Lilac smiled. "Well, that's the end of the curse."

"Are you sure?" Titania asked. "How about with all the sleigh beggies?"

"Well, there's hardly any at the moment, I believe," Lilac said, then smiled. "But, don't worry. If you want me to, I'll make a trip around the world to check on them all-I'm sorry to say, but I believe that it will take a little while-a couple months, I think."

"Please," Titania said. "And if there are any lingering effects of the Curse of the Sleigh Beggies, I want you to destroy them."

"But of course," Lilac said. "Although, can I ask something, if you don't mind? Of all of you?"

"What?" they all asked.

"Easy!" Lilac said, then her voice grew darker, and her hair seemed to stand on end-almost demon-like. "Destroy anymore of Eden's Castle, and you'll regret it."

"Ok," they all said, a little scared of her at that moment.

The scary-ness disappeared almost instantly, and Lilac smiled. "Good! Well, then, I'll be off-I'll stop by the Ant Hill when I've confirmed everything, ok?"

"Alright," Titania said.

"Perfect!" Oberon said. "Have fun with your trip, Promise!"

"Lilac," Lilac said.

"You'll always be Promise to all of us," Oberon said happily.

Lilac sighed. "Fine, I guess. Oh, and before I forget!" She looked at Chise. "I'll stop by and talk to you, when all of this is over, too, alright? To make sure that your curse doesn't come back, either-and also to catch up! You only told me up to after the whole deal with that monster of a guy-you have to tell me the rest of the story!"

"I guess that I will," Chise said.

"Awesome!" Lilac said. "Well, I should probably teleport all of you guys back to England, right?"

"If you don't mind," they all said.

"Ok, just give me a second," Lilac said.

"Wait, you want something in return, correct?" Elias asked. "If that's the case-"

Lilac shook her head. "I don't want anything in return."

"HUH?!" they all asked.

"But what happened to not doing anything without equal payment in return?" Titania asked, a little pale.

"Well, easy," Lilac said, then held a finger up to her lips. "Occasionally, I _do_ decide to make a small deal without asking for something in return-as long as you don't tell anyone about it. Also, I'm the reason that you're here, so might as well reverse that part along with the rest of it."

"Oh," they all said.

 _So...what was the whole deal with the chest, then?_ Chise wondered. _There had to be_ some _other reason...right?_ She brushed away her thoughts. _Maybe...I think that she just did it...out of kindness._

"Ok, time to get everyone home!" Lilac said, then waved her arms in a strange way. A bright light engulfed all of them, and they disappeared.

 **Many miles away…**

They all appeared in a small alley not too far from Angela's place.

"Guess this must be my stop," Angela said, waving at the others as she walked out of the alleyway.

They all waved, then disappeared.

Angela walked home, where her husband and daughter were already waiting.

"What took you so long?" Althea asked, crossing her arms.

Angela smiled, leaning down and patting her on the head.

 _Should I really tell her?_ Angela wondered, then decided that she might as well.

"Well, let's just say that I have a story for the two of you," Angela said.

 **Not too far away…**

The group appeared in a small alley not too far from Renfred and Alice's place.

"Our stop," Renfred said.

Alice looked at Chise. "See you soon, right?"

"Sure," Chise said, waving as the two walked away, and they disappeared again.

 **At Elias's house…**

Lilac didn't even bother hiding for the last stop. They all appeared in front of Elias's house.

"Last stop," Lilac said, looking at all of them. "Well...take care, everyone. I'll be back as soon as I'm done with everything." She smiled…

...then disappeared.

Titania and Oberon looked at Elias, Ruth, and Chise.

"We will come by before long to check up on your condition, Chise," Titania said. "To make sure that the curse is gone for good." She looked at Elias. "And to make sure that you are getting used to being...human again."

"I think that I will stay in my skull form for the most part," Elias said, then looked at Chise. "What do you think?"

"Huh?" Chise asked.

"Do you prefer me as human, or...not?" Elias asked.

"I don't think that it matters, honestly," Chise said.

"You sure?" Elias asked. "You aren't frightened of either one?"

"Of course not," Chise said. "As you usually are, you don't scare me-I've seen plenty of things that have scared me in the past. And as a human, you aren't that different." _And while I can't say it...you remind me of someone._

 _I don't know why, but you kinda seem a little similar to Eden...but you don't_ look _like him-not that I can say any of that. And you won't either, Ruth._

 _Hey, I'm just glad that you aren't blocking me out,_ Ruth answered.

"Well, then, let's go see Silke-she was worried about you, too, Chise," Elias said.

"At this point, it seems like plenty of people were," Chise said.

"Well, we were," Ruth said.

Chise smiled, and then they all walked into the house, and Titania and Oberon left.

 **And that's it for this chapter! What did you think?**

 **The next chapter is going to be the last-and sorry in advance if that one's on the short side.**

 **Well, until next time!**

 **Lunetheart out.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Hello, and I'm back with the final chapter of Not her first Auction.**

 **Thank you for reading this whole fanfiction!**

 **I don't own Ancient Magus Bride.**

 **Enjoy!**

Lilac smiled as she sat on the windowsill of a hospital room. In the bed was a young boy looking at the ceiling-a young sleigh beggy that had been close to death, but now there was no lingering effects of the curse.

"I hope that you live a long life, child," Lilac said.

The boy smiled at her-which surprised Lilac. "I hope so, too."

Lilac pointed at herself. "Wait, you can...see me?"

"Should I not be able to?" the boy asked.

"I've only met one person like you that can see me," Lilac said.

"Like me?" the boy asked. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, easy," Lilac said. "Do you know what sleigh beggies are?"

The boy shook his head. "Does that mean I talk to creatures that others don't see?"

Lilac shook her head. "Not exactly-that's its own separate thing. Sleigh beggies are basically Queen Bees-or King Bees, in your case." She giggled.

The boy made a face. "Is a King Bee even a thing?"

Lilac shrugged. "Who knows at this point. But that means that creatures like me-creatures that most can't see, although call us Fae-will swarm around you your entire life, whether you see us or not."

"Oh," the boy said. "Then are there other...Fae around me that I can't see?"

Lilac shook her head. "Most sleigh beggies can't see the Fae-there's only one other alive at the moment-at least, as far as I know. Although I didn't know about you until now."

"Who's the other?" the boy asked.

"Ah, ah, I'm afraid that I can't tell you that," Lilac said. "Maybe you'll meet her someday." Her smile grew. "You're going to be alright from now on. So promise me this. Live your life to the fullest and don't let anyone make you do otherwise."

"I will," the boy said.

"Well, I have to go," Lilac said. "There are other sleigh beggies that probably can't see me, but I need to visit all of them as soon as possible." She laughed. "If only I could teleport to all of you, but I'm trying to make sure I don't tire out."

"Oh," the boy said. "Will I ever see you again?"

"It's hard to say," Lilac said. "But I'm sure that, someday, our paths will cross-or come close to." She looked out the window, then flew away, leaving the boy to look at the place where she had been.

A few minutes later, a man walked into the room. "Oh, Fumiki, you're awake!"

The boy looked at the man and smiled. "I'm awake, dad."

 **A few months later…**

After that visit, Lilac continued to go around the world, visiting as many sleigh beggies as she could as fast as possible. In total, there were one hundred sleigh beggies-and she never met another one that could see her, although a few of them had looked around the room and asked if anyone was there, clearly feeling her presence.

Not a single trace of the curse remained-well, in just about all of them, but she still had one more stop to make.

Lilac landed down in front of the Ainsworth household, then looked at it-when she had stopped here before, she hadn't really looked at the place, which made her feel a little bad-after all, this was where Chise was staying now, and it was technically her fault that Chise was living here-although it seemed that Chise was enjoying it, so that was good. It looked like a nice house.

Lilac walked up to the door and knocked. After a few seconds, a Fae woman wearing a pretty pink ball gown-like dress and bonnet opened the door.

Lilac waved. "Hey, I was wondering if I could see Chise?"

The woman held up one finger, then walked inside.

Lilac patiently waited, and after a minute, Chise, Ruth, and Elias all came to the door.

"Lilac!" Chise said happily, giving the Fae a hugu "How's it been?"

"Great!" Lilac said, hugging her back. "And with you?"

Chise pulled back and looked Lilac in the eye with a big smile. "It's been great!"

"Sweet!" Lilac said, then looked at Elias, who was noticeably in his skull form. "I see that you like being like that rather than being human."

"I'm used to this instead," Elias said. "Also, it's rather strange to be called Elias when I look human-at least, when I look like that."

"I bet," LIlac said.

Chise and Ruth looked up at him.

"Now that I think about it, you don't really talk about what you had been like before you lost your humanity," Chise said. "We don't even know what your name had been."

Lilac playfully glared at Elias. "Come on, you haven't said any of that?"

Elias shrugged. "Well, I don't think that it matters. I am who I am now, am I not?"

"Does it really matter what happened to me before I came here?" Chise asked.

"That's different," Elias said.

"Eh, not really," Lilac said. "So? Mind telling us a few details-at _least_ tell us what your name was-or else I'll tell them what it is."

Elias thought for a few seconds. "My name...was Isaac."

There was a pause.

"Elias is better," Chise and Ruth said at the same time.

"Agreed," Elias said.

Lilac smiled. "Well, it looks like the effects of the curse have finally wore off completely."

"You talked to every sleigh beggy?" Chise asked.

"Well, I _visited_ every one," Lilac said.

"Oh, right," Chise said.

"But, now that I think about it...there _was_ one that could see me-a young boy," Lilac said. "It was really strange, honestly."

"Huh," Elias said. "I thought that Chise was the only sleigh beggy that could see the Fae."

"I thought so, too-but there's one other," Lilac said. "Maybe you'll meet him someday."

"What was his name?" Chise asked.

Lilac looked like she was going to reply, then she paused. "Um…"

"You didn't ask, did you?" Elias, Ruth, and Chise asked at the same time.

Lilac shook her head sheepishly. "No, I didn't."

"Should've seen that coming," Chise said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lilac asked.

Chise laughed. "Nothing, really."

"Okay, then," Lilac said. "Well, then, I should go visit Titania and Oberon-since I promised that I would stop by and all that." She smiled. "And I don't break my Promises!"

They all laughed, then Lilac walked away.

Ruth and Chise turned to Elias as soon as Lilac was out of sight.

"So?" Chise asked. "Mind telling us the story?"

Elias looked at her. "Are you sure that you want to hear it?"

"Of course," Chise and Ruth said at the same time.

"Then let's go inside-if I'm telling the story, then it will be a long one indeed," Elias said.

With a smile, the three walked inside.

 **And that's it for this fanfiction! What did you think?**

 **Thank you for reading the whole fanfiction-and sorry if it's a little open ended there. Who was that boy? Did anyone recognize the name? And what's Elias's backstory?**

 **Honestly, I might be writing a sequel to this fanfiction-or, well, a kind-of sequel with the boy in it, but it won't be completely related to this fanfiction. I don't know at this point-it might not happen at all.**

 **Well, anyway, see ya!**

 **Lunetheart out.**


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